Monstrously Mild
by Captain Buggles
Summary: If you keep your eyes peeled and your heart open, you can make friends just about any time, any where! ...But seven-year-old Jean definitely didn't expect to find an unlikely friend living right inside of his own closet. Especially not when he originally thought that same friend, a humanoid monster, would eat him. Modern AU, Romance when they're older. Now also on AO3.
1. Chapter 1

**Monstrously Mild**

**I made an AU where monsters are real, and Marco is the monster in Jean's closet. Why? Why not? It's already a series where people turn into giant humanoid monsters, after all.**

Jean first noticed it when he was only seven years old. That prickling, uneasy, restless feeling, the feeling like something was staring at him. It always happened when he was alone, in bed, with the lights out. And being only seven years old, the small child was at a lost on what to do. His parents understood, to some extent, but they always called it his "imagination". They would tuck him in well, close the closet door, and tell him all sorts of tricks to "make monsters go away", but it was nothing but a band-aid. There were only so many nights he was allowed to sleep with them before their leniency and patience began to run thin, to make matters worse. After a few weeks, all that stood between him and that mysterious, silent watcher was a nightlight, a small stuffed horse, and his favorite horse patterned pajamas. The feeling of a vast, vague unknown plagued him for over two months before he finally had a definite idea of what it was. And 'it' had four eyes of deep, dimly glowing scarlet, redder than any fruity candy Jean had ever eaten.

Jean immediately turned away when he saw it. He was tucked in well, his sheets were freshly washed, and his mother had carefully selected the tamest, happiest bedtime story possible to not get her child any more worked up than he had to be, but it was no use. He saw those eyes staring right at him, belonging to something whose body he couldn't see. It stood right in the closet door, the same door that he was absolutely certain his parents had closed for him, even stuffing a towel underneath it to make it harder to open, and impossible for anything to crawl out from beneath the door.

Jean could hardly even scream. His room wasn't terribly large, so the unknown fiend felt like it was incredibly close. His bed was on the left side of the room, tucked into the far corner, and the closet was on the right side, next to a recently installed 32-inch TV, and significantly closer to the door. He was surely, surely too slow to burst from the tucked-in covers and make it all the way to the hallway. Perhaps he could crawl out the window! It seemed like a marvelous idea to his terrified and increasingly irrational seven-year-old mind, and the window was right next to his bed. That was surely much more advantageous than the hallway. It was the second floor, but there was no other way. Anything was better than being eaten by such a horrifying creature. It'd be just like fire safety videos. Only with a monster instead of fire. Jean opened the window and bravely stuck his head out, his face dimly illuminated by the streetlights. Yeah, of course he could do this! It was nothing! Of course he could-

Jean looked down as the wind lightly ruffled his hair and almost immediately realized he couldn't do it. It looked at least ten times higher than it did when he simply looked at his house from outside. But right when he was about to retreat from the window and opt to hide under his covers instead, he suddenly felt a slick, cool tendril, about the width and thickness of three of his little fingers, wrap around his arm. It was dark, shiny green and ended in a claw, and it had an exoskeleton with countless joints, as if it belonged to some freakish, ungodly insect. Jean just about lost it when he frantically looked to see what it was. Screeching like a banshee, Jean fought against the tendril like his life depended on it, and thrust himself through the window before he could even think about it, his eyes beginning to fill with tears. However, before he could fall, yet another tendril almost immediately seized his waist. There was the sound of something behind him being dragged against carpet, making hissing and grunting noises as Jean's head dipped towards the ground and his hands desperately grabbed at the side of the house, but he was eventually pulled back in with one mighty, unsettling, jerking motion. He was screaming and sobbing all the while, believing his entire pathetically short life was soon to be over. Where on EARTH were his parents?!

But instead of a monster's sharp teeth, he felt the tendrils let him go, and one of them began to gingerly stroke his head while something behind him made soft, trilling, gurgling noises. Then, with a surprisingly childish, boyish voice, it crudely spoke. "Don't afraid." It said, as a tendril gently prodded Jean's face so he'd turn around to face the monster. Jean was still bawling his eyes out, completely scared out of his mind, but the creature persisted. Jean felt an oddly calming, numbing sensation overcome him as the creature inhaled deeply. It made an odd whistling sound along with it, and some odd substance rose from Jean's skin like a thick black haze before being sucked into the monster's mouth, and three spiracles on each of its gaunt, bony sides.

Now, for whatever reason, Jean was able to calmly get a good look at the monster. It was…honestly, kind of cool, now that he had somehow calmed down so much. The eyes that were bright red before were now yellow, with wide, curious catlike pupils. Two small eyes atop two larger eyes, the larger eyes being proportionately larger than any human's would be. Despite that, the monster actually did have a rather humanoid appearance. He appeared to be a boy about Jean's age, but much thinner and somewhat taller, with sage green skin that was mottled with what looked like dark green freckles across his face and arms. He had short, messy, somewhat greasy black hair. His face certainly carried a childish and nonaggressive demeanor, despite everything. He had thin black lips; small, sharp, protruding canines; long, pointed, ears that slightly stuck out; and a small, rounded nose. Further up, he had two small, yellow, conical, backward-arching horns on the top of his forehead. He was barefoot, and both his fingernails and toenails were long, sharp, curved, and pitch black, looking more like claws or talons. He wore no shirt, only somewhat dirty khakis, and four long tendrils hung lazily from his lower back, scattered on the floor like rope.

"No afraid now?" the monster boy said gently as Jean stared at him. The monster's two smaller eyes closed and somehow vanished, and his tendrils slunk into his body like a snail retracting its eyestalks.

"How come my parents aren't in here?" Jean asked, looking out towards the hallway in confusion.

"I keep sound here. Too worry for them." the strange boy answered matter-of-factly, like it was completely normal.

"…W-who are you?" Jean asked, completely confused by both the grammar and by how such a thing was even possible.

"Marklaq'fjylxcoczyx Bowyhqisgyxsu'zdt" the boy said, his throat tensing and his tongue contorting and writhing about as he spoke like it were the easiest thing in the world.

"What." Jean blankly replied. He was too tired for this. And really, why wasn't he afraid? Here he was, looking at a real live monster, but he hardly felt inclined to scream or get extremely excited. He just wanted to... talk to him, basically.

"…Marco." Marco replied. "It easy-talk."

"…And you're the monster in my closet?" Jean dared to say. Marco nodded eagerly.

"Fall bad. I save." Marco said happily, flashing a sharp-toothed grin.

"…If you're apposed to be mean, why would you do that?" Jean asked.

"Not mean, just scare." Marco explained, frowning slightly.

"Why?"

"Eat scare."

"That doesn't make any sense…" Jean mumbled. Marco paused for a moment, then inhaled deeply and made the whistling noise again, and a small amount of black haze was sucked away from Jean and into the spiracles on Marco's sides.

"Oh!" Jean cried. "…Feelings…look like something?" he asked, cocking his small head a little. Marco just nodded. "But I've been afraid of you lots of times, how come you're so skinny?" Jean asked.

"Don't like scare you. Bad. You cry, you hurt self. Feel bad. Not scare you." Marco explained, looking down towards the floor.

"…Aren't you hungry though?" Jean asked. Of all the things to feel, he felt somewhat sorry for the monster child. Marco had to do something he didn't want to just so he could eat? Marco just nodded slowly in response.

"It okay. Not need lots." He said, although he put a hand over his stomach as he did so.

"…Can you eat anything else?" Jean asked.

"Trash, dirt, bugs…" Marco said, although he didn't seem too thrilled about it.

"That sounds really nasty. What about people food?" Jean tried again.

"Bad thief. Feel bad. Humans notice." Marco admitted, as he fiddled with his hands and looked at the floor, apparently embarrassed.

"…What if I get you some?" Jean said. Marco's smaller eyes bulged back into existence and all four eyes then became deep orange. His mouth slowly opened and a thick puddle of drool threatened to spill out.

"…Please." Marco said with poorly masked desperation.

"Alright, I'll be back." Jean said with a smile, suddenly feeling giddy with the simultaneous feelings of responsibility and naughtiness. He skillfully snuck past his parents' bedroom and made his way downstairs. Not that he really knew what a monster would like, but if he ate things that are hardly even food anyway, then anything would probably be good. Quickly searching for what would be easiest and fastest to take, he grabbed a pack of sliced ham, a large can of ravioli, an apple-flavored juice box, and three packets of fruit snacks. He scurried back upstairs with the modest haul, hoping there would at least be one thing Marco liked in the bunch.

Jean was far from disappointed.

As soon as he got on his knees and put all the food down, Marco immediately sat down and tore into the pack of ham with sloppy, reckless abandon, his eyes solid red as he stuffed slice after slice in his mouth, making noisy moans and gurgles of pleasure as he did so. Next was the can, which Marco briefly struggled with before taking out a clawed tendril and effortlessly punching through the top, completely ignoring the tab on the lid. Marco used the tendril like a can opener, crudely sawing the lid off before dumping the contents into his mouth, and his long, blood red tongue licked up the remains. This was how Jean learned that Marco's jaw was apparently like a snake's, to both his amazement and chagrin. Marco blew through the fruit snacks in record time, ripping each one apart with his claw like nails, then indiscriminately devouring them. The juice box came last, and Marco still made absolutely no attempt to be neat. Instead, he took the entire thing into his mouth and violently chomped down without opening his mouth, causing some of the liquid to seep out through his lips. But he still swallowed it all at once without issue, before spitting out the sticky, utterly destroyed box, and the still unopened straw. Jean could only stare at Marco in astonishment, not sure if he should be disgusted or impressed. But he didn't have long to stare, since Marco rapidly extended all four tendrils and pulled Jean into a prolonged bear-hug with both them and his arms. The whole time, he made an oddly soothing noise that was like gurgling crossed with loud purring. Jean couldn't help but giggle a little at how the sound reverberated in his own chest.

"Friend." Marco said with a gentle, genuine joy, squeezing a little tighter as he did so.

"Wow...uh...okay..but...your claws are…hurting a little…" Jean mumbled, prompting Marco to immediately let go.

"Sorry." He said quietly, his eyes steadily fading to yellow again.

"It's fine. Hey, no one can hear us, right?" Jean asked, his eyes glinting with childish excitement. Marco nodded. Jean went over to the flat screen TV and turned it on, causing Marco to squint and hide his upper eyes as Jean fiddled with the remote until the screen switched to the title screen of a Nintendo Gamecube. Marco watched in fascination as Jean grabbed the controller and started up Super Smash Brothers Melee. "I can teach you how to play!" Jean said excitedly, handing a controller to Marco. "My friend Connie says I suck but he doesn't know what he's talking about." Jean said, as he went to the character select screen.

Jean was probably incredibly lucky the first genuine meeting between he and Marco had taken place on a night soon after the start of summer vacation, since he ended up being awake much longer than expected, explaining countless things to his new friend. Marco was a very fast learner and seemed absolutely enraptured by the video game, but there was so much to cover, and Marco was so curious that it ended up sapping a lot of Jean's time and energy anyway. Before he knew it, Jean was on the floor, sound asleep. He was quickly covered by a blanket that Marco retrieved from his bed, while Marco kept playing, periodically looking at Jean with a wide grin. Eventually, a bit after the sun rose, Marco opted to go to sleep with him, but not before throwing away the evidence of what Jean had brought him and turning the game off.

Jean's mother hardly even knew what to make of her son sleeping in the middle of the floor with a perfectly good bed to use, but it was honestly a great improvement over constantly asking to sleep in her room. She was completely unable to notice the green skinned monster sleeping beside Jean, which had steadily shifted into a different form while sleeping. Now Marco's torso and abdomen were unnaturally long and thin, and his skin was partially covered in hard, shiny, interlocking plating, like a cross between scales and exoskeleton. A spiky, bony crest ran along his spine, and he had spindly webbed fingers, along with long, thin, unnatural arms that bifurcated at the elbows. A long, blood red tongue lolled out of his mouth. On his face, and other areas with no plating, dark green "freckles" moved busily across his skin as if they had minds of their own. He slept tightly curled up, like some unusual nightmare of a cat, and it was indeed a wonderful thing that no one could see him as he slept.

It was only the first of many nights that Jean would spend being friends with a monster.


	2. Chapter 2

**Monstrously Mild**  
><strong>Ch 2<strong>

* * *

><p>Things continued on with surprising normalcy after that first night. Quite quickly, Jean realized he truly was the only one who had any idea Marco existed at all. His parents made absolutely no mention of it. However, there were times when Jean didn't fully trust Marco. Even when he did, there were still more times when Marco was a bit hard for Jean's mind to wrap around, however impressionable and innocent it was. One of those times was the morning directly after their first positive interaction.<p>

Jean woke up and almost screamed when he noticed the too-slick, too-smooth, green creature curled up next to him. It was sound asleep, spiracles lightly whistling, as if nothing was wrong, but Jean definitely didn't feel the same way. "M-Marco?!" Jean cried in surprise, kicking the blankets away and scrambling to put distance between him and this odd being. "Marco, what happened?! Did you turn evil? Were you just tricking me so you'd be strong enough to eat me?!" Jean shouted fearfully. If this monster was so brave and powerful it could just eat him in broad daylight, he was a complete fool to ever feed it at all.

"Mmmnn…Jean?" Marco said, slowly opening his main eyes and blinking a few times. "What's wrong?"

"Don't ask ME that, why do you look like that?!" Jean cried. Now that it was morning, Marco was an entirely different kind of scary. The kind of scary you didn't expect; that unnatural, out-of-place kind that you had no good answer to.

Marco looked at himself in mild confusion, even turning his head 180 degrees to look at his back, which sort of made Jean's skin crawl, but after a moment, Marco's eyes flushed deep red. "Sorry, Jean, sorry!" Marco frantically cried. "It normal!" Marco explained, before fusing his bifurcated forelimbs, shortening his arms and abdomen, and popping his spine into a straighter position. The slick plating on him seemed to just melt back into his skin. "Not scare now?" Marco said hopefully, as Jean just stared at him with wide, disbelieving eyes.

"You can… j-just change what you look like?" Jean said in disbelief, as he uncomfortably tottered in place. What if he just ripped him up right now, right here, in broad daylight?! He already said he could make it so his parents didn't hear him…

"Yes." Marco replied in a small voice. "Does… does it…" Marco seemed to be struggling to find words. "Make hate me?" he asked, frowning. His eyes became a dirty, murky yellow. When Jean didn't answer, Marco just sat on the floor, curled his body into an impossibly tight ball, and wrapped his tendrils around himself to hide his head. "I get. I bad. I scary. Can't trust." he muttered with a whimper, the kind you'd expect from an animal. He then unwrapped a single tendril, hooked its claw on the doorframe of the closet, and steadily pulled himself in. It was really more pitiful than scary, now that Jean had time to think about it.

"Marco… Marco, wait…" Jean said regretfully, as he slowly approached the closet. "Marco, I-" Jean started, only to see that Marco had somehow just… disappeared. Jean looked around the closet in confusion, moving toys and hanging clothing, but not seeing even a single trace of Marco. Jean was getting more confused by the second. Marco had obviously gone in, and it wasn't very big at all, so why wasn't he there? "Marco, where are you?" Jean tried. He paused for a moment, before feeling a frigid, prickly, "fuzzy" sort of sensation in the air. For the briefest moment, there was a sharp, pungent, sour smell unlike anything Jean had ever experienced before,as a shadowy blob materialized and Marco slid out.

"Here." Marco said in a flat, simple tone, but once again, Jean practically flung himself away from the strange child.

"W-what?! How?!"

"Went to room. Thought you not want see." Marco explained.

"N-no, it's not that, I just… You're weird." Jean said, if only because he didn't know what else to say. Wow, that was sure to make Marco feel better!

"I know…" Marco said with a sigh, while crouched to the floor.

"B-but in a good way!" Jean added on quickly, as he forced himself to come closer.

Marco sniffed the air for a moment, then gave a deep, rattling sigh, sucking some strange white mist from Jean's skin. He scrunched his face up in concentration for a moment, then exhaled. "Liar." Marco said with absolute certainty. "But I get tastes. Tastes mean you want me feel better." Marco said with a small smile. "You feel bad but want good. So it okay." Marco explained.

"Yeah, let's go with that…" Jean mumbled, not really even understanding what Marco meant.

"I taste lots of not-know, so I tell you. I eight year old, came from egg. Big, soft, silk egg, like cocoon. Came here… four moon ago. You… onest… no, first human I ever scare, but I not like it. I not like scare. Hard and lonely. So lonely. No fun. Can't go home." Marco explained in a low voice, as he whimpered again. "I have mom, and dad, and zdakrrujyi, but they only come moon fresh, and sky black." Marco said.

"A… zda wha-?" Jean asked, although it was far from the only odd thing.

"Like…third parent." Marco hesitantly explained. "Weave egg, mix parents baby-make slurry in body, fill egg with baby-make slurry."

"That sounds disgusting!" Jean cried.

"Sorry!" Marco exclaimed, his tendrils shooting upwards to cover his mouth.

"I-it's fine…" Jean forced himself to say. He wanted to add in a smile, but he couldn't quite get that far. A rich, meaty smell interrupted his thoughts instead. It was wafting into his room from the kitchen downstairs, and Marco was starting to drool.

"…Aaahhh…" Marco longingly moaned, as his eyes became a deep orange and his tongue lolled out of his mouth.

"…You want some?" Jean said. "I can't really tell my parents about you, but I-I can act like I'm still hungry and get extra…" Jean said. It wouldn't be very suspicious, he wasn't exactly the thinnest child and his mother wasn't very strict about food.

"R-really?" Marco asked in absolute awe, the tips of his tendrils squirming as he literally smiled from ear to ear. It was more than a little creepy. Marco had entirely too many teeth, but Jean knew he couldn't lose heart and hurt Marco's feelings again.

"Yeah, if you're always so hungry, I can't just let you starve…" Jean said. It was comforting to know that even though Marco was apparently starving, he had no intention of eating him.

"Thank you!" Marco gratefully gushed, wrapping Jean in a powerful but still slightly painful hug. "Friend! Friend!" Marco sang in elation, before he suddenly stopped and let go, seeming to have remembered something. "Does… does Jean want to be friend?" Marco asked in a small voice.

"…Yeah." Jean said after a brief moment of hesitation. There was no going back now, it'd be cruel to just rip Marco's hope away from him. "We're friends now." Jean said.

"Okay! So, uhm, uhm….Ahh…" Marco started, as his eyes steadily became a bright, brilliant red, and actually started to glow. Marco leaned in closely to Jean, causing the child to back away a little and look at him apprehensively. Marco's spiracles were now quickly expanding and contracting, making a small whistling noise as he stared intensely at Jean. "Can't… don't know how say… thing I want…" Marco said in mild distress. "Sign of friends. Want to… make sure friends." Marco explained vaguely.

"Uh… What's that mean?" Jean asked, feeling more unsettled by the second. Marco opened his mouth again, but then closed it and looked thoughtful for a second before continuing.

"I have to do thing that might be nasty…" Marco said timidly. "So you get it." Marco said. "Hand out, please." Marco said, prodding one of Jean's hand with a tendril.

"Uh… okay…" Jean said.

"Don't move hand, okay?" Marco said. Jean just nodded, stiffening in nervous anticipation. Marco wrapped a tendril around Jean's wrist and cleared his throat, then reared his head back and made a single sharp, loud, slurping inhalation before spitting a small, moist, opaque bubble into Jean's hand. It was like a tiny liquid balloon, slowly emitting a lightly glowing gas.

"Gross…" Jean said, making a face.

"Sorry! Uhm… you need breathe it!" Marco cried fearfully, wincing as he said it.

"I need to _what?!" _Jean said.

"Pop it, breathe gas! It have what I want tell you!" Marco said in a begging tone.

"…I don't know if I can…" Jean said, trying to pull his hand away.

"_Friend_?" Marco questioned with a heartbreaking whimper, his eyes going murky yellow again. With that, Jean momentarily grimaced before crushing the bubble in his hand and thoughtlessly inhaling as much of the resulting burst of gas as possible.

Like an incredibly powerful daydream, Jean was suddenly overwhelmed by thoughts and visions that weren't his. He saw himself and Marco, still in the same spot. But now, Marco had just taken a dense, wet, globular mass from his mouth and placed it into Jean's cupped hands. It glowed with forest green light and had thin little tendrils that waved about as it slithered around in Jean's hands like an alien slug, with copious amounts of some odd mucus. Immediately afterwards, Marco cupped his hands in front of his mouth and stretched his chest out wide, inhaling as deeply as he could. A large quantity of golden brown gas drifted gracefully from Jean's body, mainly his eyes and mouth. It was streaked with crimson, and it twinkled like a tiny, shining cinnamon nebula. It coalesced into what looked like a tiny planet, merrily spinning and flying about in Marco's cupped hands. Jean felt strange and a bit hollow, but oddly at peace as the process happened. Then, both imaginary boys swallowed the strange objects. Jean understood at that moment. The hollow feeling disappeared, replaced by an intimate knowledge of Marco, a deep and instinctual connection, even though the vision only gave him a vague approximation of what it'd truly be like. The vision then faded as quickly as it came, leaving Jean slightly disoriented and rather put off.

"You want us to trade pieces of our souls?! And yours is… is some slimy, _slithery **thing**_ that you threw up and I have to _swallow_?!" Jean asked, voice rich with disbelief and revulsion.

Marco's eye color only became an even darker yellow as Jean said it, as he seemed to realize how ridiculous it was now that Jean said it out loud. "Sorry…" Marco said softly, letting go of Jean's wrist and slumping to the floor.

"I…" Jean started. "Come on… I-I didn't mean it like that… I mean… I'm just a human, so we don't do stuff like that and I don't really get it… so… I'm sorry…" Jean said hesitantly. "I'll still get you breakfast and, uh, we're still friends and stuff… I just… don't want us to trade chunks of our souls or… whatever the heck that was." Jean said.

"I get it." Marco said dejectedly, as Jean somewhat awkwardly left the room to go eat.

But as promised, Jean did get a plate for Marco, which he took upstairs with great care. Marco seemed to forget all about his disappointment as Jean re-entered the room with bacon, hash browns, scrambled eggs, and a warm, buttery biscuit. Jean put the paper plate on his dresser and suddenly remembered he forgot to get Marco his own fork, but that apparently didn't matter at all to the monster child. Marco practically dove onto the food, eating without even using his hands, occasionally using his tendrils as crude forks. In an incredibly short time, the plate was clean. Jean could only stare at it in wonder as Marco immediately pounced on him and hugged him, purring and gurgling in gracious contentment.

"Jean… Scare?" Marco cautiously asked after a couple of moments, eyes now a glowing red again as he backed away from Jean.

"…Alright… knock yourself out…" Jean said with a sigh, bracing himself.

"…Huh?" Marco asked. "Why? W-what did I do?" he said fearfully, his eyes becoming a loud shade of orange.

"…Uh, nothing, I said it's okay for you to scare me… That's what the expression means, that you- AAAAHHHHHH!" Jean's explanation was cut off by Marco suddenly unhinging his jaw and lunging at Jean with a sharp hiss and acrid breath, all four eyes red and exposed. Marco now had what seemed like a literally _impossible_ number of sharp, gleaming white teeth; at angles and lengths that seemed absolutely _wrong_. It hurt Jean's head just to look into his mouth. Jean was pinned to the floor by Marco's tendrils, and only then did he realize just how strong Marco could be, even severely underfed. Marco gave an unholy, rattling, shrieking wail, and Jean screamed louder than ever as Marco's eyes went back to a light yellow and he let go of Jean, deeply inhaling in the process. Thick, plentiful, pitch black gas left Jean's body and entered Marco's, quickly calming Jean down.

"So sorry." Marco said. He helped Jean sit up and then gently hugged him and purred. "Scare best when not know." Marco said.

"It's alright… You feel better now?" Jean asked. "Don't hold back, just get it over with… Or I might just die next time…" Jean said in exasperation, even though he could no longer remember just what Marco had done very clearly. He could remember that he was very scared, but the thought didn't really scare him much when he reflected on it.

"Fine now. Thanks." Marco said happily, nuzzling into Jean's body.

"Uh, do you always gotta be touching me?" Jean asked with slight discomfort, noting that Marco's hair was rather oily.

"Jean soft. Jean warm." Marco said matter-of-factly, seeming to have no intention of stopping. "Wait…" Marco sniffed a few times, and drew a bit of mist into his nose from Jean's skin. He reluctantly stopped and scooted away from Jean after a short pause. "Sorry…"

"It's fine" Jean said. He really wasn't entirely lying. After all, in less than 24 hours, Jean had never gotten such a strong sense that someone really liked him so much. Sure he had friends, but Marco's affection was so unique, so distinctive, that he couldn't doubt it. It was like playing with a puppy; you would be incredibly hard pressed to suspect that the puppy wasn't completely thrilled to be with you. It was truly a jarring concept. Here was Marco; kind, timid and honest… But he was also an incredibly strange, alien creature that needs to scare you in order to survive.

Jean made sure to keep that in mind.


	3. Chapter 3

**Monstrously Mild**  
><strong>Ch 3<strong>

* * *

><p>The rest of that first morning seemed to pass by in a blur, especially because Jean had woken up somewhat late. Jean's mother couldn't complain. From the sound of things, her son was having a great time playing in his room. She might have changed her tune if she'd known that it was because of a creature potentially capable of making her son have a panic attack, but ignorance was bliss. A little past noon, just after she'd made chicken sandwiches with a side of salad (unknowingly feeding an extra mouth by doing so), there was a knock at the door.<p>

"Jean, hon, Connie and Sasha are here! Wash up, okay?" Jean's mother called from downstairs. Jean grumbled a little at having to wash up first, but he knew he'd never be able to take so much as one step outside if he didn't listen.

"I'll be back, Marco, I'm gonna go play outside for a while." Jean said. He was about to leave it at that, but then he paused and asked another question "…What do you usually do when I'm not around, anyway?" Jean asked.

"Play in my room." Marco said a little sadly, motioning to the closet with a tendril.

"…Do you ever have any company or anything?" Jean said curiously, trying to imagine what two monsters playing together would look like. What did other monsters even look like? What does Marco's room even look like?

"…No…" Marco said rather dejectedly. "Supposed stay here. Until I scare better." Marco explained somberly… and perhaps just a bit bitterly, since Jean noticed a wave of red pulse through his eyes.

"What's the big deal with scaring people? I think you're really good at it." Jean said, trying to be reassuring.

"Parents not think it. Scare important to them. In blood, in family… Best scare. Best forms for scare. But not me." Marco said. "I… mistake…" he said with a whimper and a tremble in his voice.

"…A mistake?" Jean asked. "That can't be right!" he asserted, but Marco shook his head.

"Is true. Am mistake. No good scare, no good nothing." Marco said sadly, his eyes wet and muddy yellow.

"Don't say that…" Jean said, as Marco unthinkingly pulled him into a hug, and Jean started to hear a raspy, moaning, heaving noise coming from Marco. It was honestly sort of scary, in a haunting kind of way. "Uh… Marco?" Jean asked, but Marco only hugged tighter, his arms and tendrils all wrapped around Jean like he never wanted to be separated. As Jean started to feel his shoulder quickly growing wet, it occurred to him that Marco was crying. "Oh no… Marco…" Jean said softly, frowning but not exactly sure what to do. "Marco, what's wrong?" Jean tried, as he hesitantly hugged the monster boy back.

"I never said I want scare… B-but no one listen… No one… Krr'aghjus, jrisahyii llrgyrhise!" Marco cried in a choked up voice. "I want being imaginary friend! Why have to be scary monster?! H'ruyt jacvi?! Because look scary?! Gvasorfyej ma'jyakna! J'sdazgyo nyrfzreiza!"

"…Imaginary friend?" Jean asked softly, confused by why Marco didn't just use 'friend'.

"Imaginary friend and monster… both real." Marco quietly explained, calming down slightly. "Almost same thing." Marco said.

"…How does that even work?" Jean said. The two concepts seemed so incredibly different to him he could hardly put his mind around it.

"Monster make scare, make sad. Friend eat scare and sad from other things. Monster dark and ugly and bad. Friend happy and warm and fun." Marco explained.

"…But we're friends, aren't we? And I don't think you're dark or ugly or anything. So doesn't that make you more like an imaginary friend?" Jean asked.

"…But supposed be monster… Parents won't like…" Marco mumbled.

"Pfft. Kids don't listen to their parents all the time, or else nothing would ever be any fun at all. You can be whatever you want. That's what my mom always says." Jean said.

Marco pulled himself away from Jean, cocking his head as his large yellow eyes stared into Jean's smaller brown ones. "…You… You think… I can?" Marco asked.

"Yeah, of course! If you put enough effort into it, there's stuff everyone is good at!"

"Jean!" Marco cried happily, forcing Jean to the floor with a strong pounce. "You so smart, Jean!" Marco gushed, as he rolled onto his back and hoisted Jean into the air with his tendrils wrapped around his waist, giggling the whole time.

"Uh… Okay… I'm glad but… I kinda wanna get down…" Jean said sheepishly, wondering how on Earth such thin, flexible appendages had such strength in the first place. "Connie and Sasha will wonder what's taking so long…" Jean mumbled.

"Sorry!" Marco said, quickly putting Jean down. Jean could only sigh, but he also smiled a little too. He'd managed to pick the right thing to say.

In just a short time, Jean was out on his front porch in jeans and a Power Rangers T-shirt, and he could already see that Connie and Sasha seemed to have things they couldn't wait to tell him. Connie was a short, skinny, energetic boy with curly black hair and somewhat dark skin; while Sasha was a modestly taller and stockier girl with fair skin and straight brown hair done up in a ponytail.

"Jean! Get your bat and glove, we're gonna play baseball!" Connie said excitedly.

"But we just played baseball yesterday…" Jean said. "I wanted to play kickball…or soccer"

"Well yeah, but some new kids just came today! A boy and a girl, and they're super good at baseball!" Connie said, shaking his fists in excitement.

"Plus, Armin already knows them! Of all people, Armin! Can you believe it?" Sasha threw in. Jean already knew why she put it like that.

"Oh come on guys, just because Armin isn't all that good at sports..." Jean started, trying not to laugh.

"You're only standing up for him 'cause if it wasn't for him, everyone'd be better than you." Connie joked, giving a high pitched laugh as Jean just glared at him.

"You're just mad 'cause everyone's taller than you." Jean countered with a snicker. "I'm pretty sure Bertholdt was BORN taller than you." Jean said, causing Sasha to giggle in spite of herself.

"Yeah well, that's 'cause Bert probably eats like 2 tons of vegetables every day. He's just weird like that. He LIKES brussel sprouts! What kind of kid could possibly like those things?! Bert, that's who!" Connie countered.

Jean could only laugh before he hurried back upstairs to get his bat and glove. Marco was there sitting on his bed, steadily exhaling a luminescent yellow smoke and stirring it about in the air with a pointy black rod of some kind. Jean momentarily forgot what he was even doing as he watched Marco somehow pull at the corners of the smoke with a rod, forming it into a cube. He then stuck the rod inside and carefully blew on the opposite end, filling the cube with swirls of gas in a multitude of different colors. Meanwhile, his spiracles seemed to be whistling some obscure little song, and he rhythmically bobbed back and forth to it.

"Hi Jean!" Marco chirped, looking up from the odd little cube full of colors and smiling widely at Jean.

"Hey, Marco…" Jean said as he reached for his baseball bat and glove in the closet. He stared at the colorful floating cube in wonder, and remembered Marco's words from just a little earlier, suddenly feeling a strong urge to just refuse Connie and Sasha and stay to hear about what Marco was doing. Jean wasn't dense, he knew it'd probably make Marco really happy even if he was acting like he was completely fine. But Connie and Sasha were his friends too, and already waiting for him, so Jean couldn't possibly do something like that. Instead, Jean compromised with a few parting words. "I'll be back soon. And then we'll play together, okay? So you don't have to cry anymore." Jean said.

"Okay!" Marco said happily, his tendrils wriggling. "Have fun Jean!"

* * *

><p>With a friendly wave, Jean rushed back downstairs and out the front door. The baseball diamond, basically just a glorified empty lot, was on the other side of the block. When the trio reached it, sure enough, there were already two kids Jean had never seen before. One was a boy with dark brown hair and tanned skin. He had large, intense eyes, a striking sea foam green in color. The cheeky smile he gave Jean made Jean feel like he was one of those people who liked to be the boss or leader of things. But on the other hand, the girl was… something else.<p>

Her eyes were calm and black, but there was an undercurrent of strength and self-confidence. She had stunning black hair that came to her shoulders, so shiny and silky that Jean could hardly believe it. Her skin was much lighter than the boy's, and every little feature of her face seemed nice to Jean. What in the world was _her _name?!

"Hey! Mine's Eren! What's about yous?!" the boy shouted, enthusiastically running up to meet Jean and his friends. Jean thought his way of speaking was a little funny, but he didn't say anything.

"I'm Sasha!" Sasha said, matching his enthusiasm.

"My name's Jean." Jean said simply. There was… something… about these two kids. He wasn't sure what, and it didn't really seem like a bad thing, but there was… Something. But the girl was really really pretty, so he didn't really want to jump to conclusions or hurt her feelings.

"I'm Connie. Word around the neighborhood is you're pretty good at baseball! Is that right?!" Connie said excitedly. For someone so small, he definitely had a lot of guts.

"I'd said… say so!" Eren said, not letting the falter in his speech interfere with his smile. He then pulled the girl next to him closer and beamed. His teeth were so white and straight Jean could hardly believe it. How much did his mom make him brush?! "Me and Mikasa good! Very good!" Eren said with a laugh.

"Hello…" Mikasa said in a more subdued tone.

'_Oh wow, even her voice is pretty…' _Jean thought.

"Where are you from, Eren?" Sasha asked. "You have a funny accent!" she pointed out.

"I-is not!" Eren said defensively. But Jean honestly agreed with Sasha… and it was definitely somewhat familiar… "And uh, I'm from…"

"Germany." Mikasa added on for him.

"Oh, yeah, Germany!" Eren said, laughing sheepishly.

"SAY SOMETHING GERMAN!" Connie immediately blurted out, his interest now more piqued than ever.

"Ah…uh…schadenfreude." Eren said.

"Gesundheit." Mikasa added on.

Jean was a bit suspicious, but Connie and Sasha seemed genuinely satisfied, and he really didn't want that Mikasa girl to hate him…

"Mikasa, are you his girlfriend?!" Sasha quickly asked with a giggle. Jean was suddenly really hoping she said no. Not like it was any of his business though.

"Ah… yes." Mikasa said, making Jean's heart sink a little. "Very much Eren's friend." she said.

"Have you kissed?!" Connie and Sasha both asked in perfect sync, having seemingly forgotten about baseball in light of this very important development. Jean wasn't so impressed.

"Yes! Kiss Mikasa lots!" Eren said, earning a prolonged 'awww' from Sasha and a scowl from Jean. But then Eren turned his head and noticed Armin, which caused him to add on something no one was exactly expecting. "And Armin too!" Eren said, quickly going over to hug the small blonde boy and kiss his cheeks and forehead.

"Eren!" Armin cried, giggling at the sudden affection.

"Wait, what?" Sasha said, her expression one of absolute shock and bewilderment.

"WOAH HOLD UP." Connie shouted, his eyes wide in astonishment. Meanwhile, Jean could almost care less that Eren had just kissed Armin, because the whole puppylike 'boundless amounts of physical affection for everything' thing was getting REALLY familiar…

"Eren, you're not s'posed to do that!" Sasha cried in mortification.

"Yeah, isn't that cheating?!" Connie cried.

"How are you s'posed to get married to both of them?! Can people do that in Germany?!" Sasha asked frantically. It was most likely the most scandalous thing she had ever seen in her short life.

"…Married?" Eren said, quickly looking to Armin with a lost, almost panicked expression.

"I think Eren and Mikasa just misunderstood what you guys meant." Armin said calmly. "We're just really good friends, not actually boyfriend or girlfriend."

"_Yes!" _Jean whispered to himself.

"THEN WHY DO YOU GUYS KISS?!" Connie asked, as if his desire to know was about to kill him.

"Yeah, why?!" Sasha added on.

"That's normal where he's from. If you kiss your friends on the cheeks and stuff, it doesn't mean you LIKE-like them." Armin explained.

"But Armin, I do like-like you! I like yous very much, so I like-like yous!" Eren said almost immediately afterwards, seemingly very disappointed Armin had even said such a thing.

"No, Eren, boyfriend and girlfriend mean a different kind of love… You know, the romantic kind." Armin said.

"Ooooohhhh…" Eren said, seemingly to become ever-so-slightly embarrassed before giggling it off.

"I get it now!" Connie exclaimed.

"Yeah, I was really getting worked up for a second there…" Sasha said, sighing in relief.

"Okay, guys, can we play baseball now?" Jean asked, just unbelievably glad that Eren wasn't _actually _Mikasa's boyfriend.

Connie and Sasha both jumped a little, having apparently forgotten about the game almost entirely, but they quickly agreed.

The simple act of picking teams was a challenge in itself. Connie and Sasha were both already so convinced that Eren and Mikasa were good that they wanted to be on their team, even though it wouldn't be fair unless it was a three-on-three game.

"Let's just go get Bertholdt. He'll be on Jean and Armin's side, he almost never says no to anything." Connie said.

"We don't know where he lives though! He just kinda shows up and then goes home, right?" Sasha said.

"Oh, right! We'll get Reiner then!" Connie said.

"You dingdong, we don't know where Reiner lives either!" Sasha cried.

"Really? I feel like I asked him before… but I guess that doesn't matter, I don't remember what he told me…" Connie said.

"Okay then, we'll get Thomas… And… Daz…" Connie said.

"Ew, really? Daz? He's so… Daz…" Sasha said, making a face.

"Yeah… we'll get Franz then." Connie said.

"Wait, what about Mina? We haven't played with her in a while!" Sasha said.

"She's been weird lately. Isn't she always napping in the middle of the day now?" Connie asked.

"Yeah, she told me she's been having nightmares or something…" Sasha said with concern and minor disappointment.

"But if we ask Annie…" Connie's eyes widened a little, and he immediately backtracked. "No. Not Annie."

"NEVER Annie." Sasha said. "She gives me the creeps. No one even knows anything about her."

"She's… not so bad…" Armin said softly, but Connie and Sasha just looked at him like he'd grown two heads, then turned back to each other and kept speaking.

"Don't Bert and Reiner know her?" Connie asked.

"Who cares, we're never asking Annie for anything in the whole world ever." Sasha said impatiently. "…OOH, wait, wait, what about Christa?" Sasha asked excitedly.

"T-the rich girl?" Connie said with mild exasperation, although Jean noticed Armin suddenly get a hopeful expression, while Connie's voice became somewhat squeakier and he idly kicked a foot against the dirt. "Well, she's like, practically a princess, y'know? Does she even know how to hold a bat? Is she even allowed to get dirty?" Jean knew the feeling. Christa was easily the second prettiest girl, after Mikasa. Plus, she was super nice. Like, all the time. He sighed a little just thinking about it.

"And then there's Hannah!" Sasha said.

"Oh, that's great! Franz will definitely come if we get Hannah to come." Connie said, snickering.

"Okay then! Jean, you go get Franz, I'll get Hannah. Connie, don't tease Eren or Mikasa." Sasha said.

"Oh come on, potato girl, I never tease anyone!" There was a dead silence, during which Sasha could only stare at Connie in disbelief. "What? What did I- OH. OH I DIDN'T MEAN THAT I JUST-"

"Whatever, Connie." Sasha said, walking away.

"NO REALLY, THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT!" Connie called after her.

"You are funny guys!" Eren said, as Jean just giggled to himself and walked off to get Franz.

Franz's house was on the block across the street from where they played baseball, but from where Jean was, Franz was on the left side of the block rather than directly across the street. All-in-all, just a few minutes away. Everything was completely ordinary until Jean was almost there, at which point he noticed a black cat with bright yellow eyes and splotches of brown fur jump out of a nearby bush and begin to follow him with a somewhat awkward and unusual gait. Being rather fond of cats, such an occurrence was more than enough to completely distract the young boy.

"Kitty!" Jean said with glee, happy that the small animal was letting him approach. In fact, it was also approaching at the same time, affectionately rubbing against his legs. He even started happily rubbing the cat, at least until something the cat did made him completely freeze up.

"Jean, it's me!" the cat spoke in an all-too-familiar voice. Jean could only stare, his eyes wide.

"…M-Marco?" Jean gasped. "You can be a cat?"

Marco nodded. "Family talent… Moving weird though…" Marco said, lifting each paw and shaking it in disdain.

"Why a cat though? Can't you just be invisible?" Jean asked. He was a little proud of himself for being able to progress to calmly asking about it so quickly. When it came to Marco, he was starting to figure that being too surprised just made everything more complicated.

"Need disguise in direct sun. Hurts without. Lots." Marco explained, as he flopped onto his side. "Sun not like yours where I from."

"Oh… Why'd you come then? Does it hurt or anything when you turn into something else?" Jean asked, hoping Marco hadn't gone through too much trouble.

"Came to watch Jean do baseball. Not hurt to be cat. Hard walking, though. Can you carry me?" Marco asked hopefully.

"…I guess that's fine." Jean said, as he picked his friend up. "…How do you get so much smaller, anyway? Where's all the extra size go? Did you crawl out of your old body or something?" Jean asked, hoping the answer wasn't yes as he imagined Marco's old skin and guts lying on his bedroom floor.

"Not sure how. It just… happen." Marco vaguely explained.

"Are you like, magic or something?" Jean asked, as he started to walk towards Franz's house again.

"Don't think so." Marco said, after a brief moment of thought.

"But you can change shape… and open portals… and do that thing with the gas and the feelings…" Jean said.

"Are you magic 'cause sun not hurt you?" Marco asked.

"No, that's just normal… Oh, I think I get what you're saying…" Jean said.

"And you do that thing when the water come from skin…" Marco said.

"What?" Jean asked, not really understanding.

"Water drops all over skin, when heart go fast or when hot…" Marco said.

"You mean… sweating?" Jean asked uncertainly.

"Yeah! Why? Where water come from? How it come out of skin?" Marco asked.

"I dunno…you're saying you can't sweat?"

"Never."

"Huh…" Jean said, before noticing he had almost passed Franz's house, modestly sized but made of brick and relatively new. "Oh, we're here!" Jean said. "This is my friend Franz's house. I was gonna ask him to play baseball… You know what baseball is, right?" Jean asked, realizing the answer might actually be no.

"Mostly." Marco said, as Jean briefly put him down to knock on the doorbell.

Within a moment or two, a boy that looked somewhat like Connie, but taller, less skinny, and somewhat darker came to the door. "Hey, Jean!" Franz said happily. "…Oh wow, when did you get a cat? How'd you get him to come with you?!"

"He's uh… really smart… and not really mine. I just kind of found him and gave him some food." Jean said, hoping it was good enough.

"Oh, does that mean he can do tricks too?! I never thought cats could do tricks! Kitty, roll over!" Franz cried excitedly. Jean wasn't exactly surprised when Marco actually listened.

"Awesome!" Franz said.

"Uh, Franz…" Jean said, but Franz didn't hear him.

"Play dead!" Franz told Marco, who immediately obeyed, and seemed to actually be sort of enjoying himself. "How many fingers am I holding up?!" Franz said, as he held up six fingers, and Marco happily replied with six meows. By this time, Franz was already beside himself with glee. "Speak!" Franz commanded next.

"W-wait!" Jean cried in mortification, but Franz completely ignored him, and Marco had already said 'Hi, Franz! This is fun!' in the most chipper tone possible, and Franz had definitely heard him. Jean almost thought it was the end of the world. But luckily, Franz didn't seem to realize that no matter how talented a cat was, that wasn't supposed to be even remotely possible.

"Oh my gosh, Jean, this is the best cat ever in the whole world! Can I have him?!" Franz said with oblivious excitement, while Jean just looked like he couldn't quite believe what was happening. Meanwhile, Marco looked very pleased with himself.

"Well, you can't, because he's already my friend. Plus, if you take him, I won't tell you the news about _Hannah_." Jean said, stressing her name in a teasing fashion. Predictably, Franz's fixation on Marco came to a screeching halt.

"Hannah? Uh, um, w-what about Hannah?" Franz asked, suddenly looking much more anxious than before.

"We're playing baseball, and I bet she's gonna be there. You know, I heard she really likes guys who are good at baseball… and there's a new boy who says he's really good… So it'd be a shame if-" Jean didn't even have to finish talking.

"Okay, I'm coming!" Franz said with utmost determination. "I CAN GO PLAY BASEBALL WITH JEAN, RIGHT MOM?" Franz called into his house, with a look that practically begged her to say yes. "…OKAY, THANKS." Franz said, after Jean heard a faint female voice call back. "I would've come anyway, by the way. Really!" he tacked on.

"Uh huh, okay." Jean said, as he picked Marco up and started walking away, followed by Franz… Who was now so worked up he ended up overtaking Jean anyway.

* * *

><p>"I'm back!" Jean announced as they walked onto the empty lot. He smirked when he noticed Sasha had successfully retrieved Hannah, and she and Franz were already gravitating towards each other. Oh, what poor suckers… Tied up in something as stupid and icky as love… Meanwhile, he was playing it smart! No dumb icky feelings messing with his head, nuh-uh!<p>

"Jean…" Mikasa said, looking at him intently. Jean almost choked on his own spit.

"Y-yes, Mikasa?!" Jean forced out, while immediately trying to make himself look cooler.

"Where from is the cat?" Mikasa asked in a soft yet stern tone, studying Marco closely. Marco leaned forward to sniff her, but quickly recoiled after only a moment. It almost sounded like Mikasa was accusing Jean of something…

"Oh, y-y'know, heh, I found him, and he was really nice, s-so I just kinda…like… picked him up, y'know?" Jean said, not sure why he was suddenly stumbling over his words so much.

Eren came forward and sniffed Marco just as Marco sniffed Eren, and they both recoiled at the same time. Eren suddenly flashed Jean a very stern look, then took him by the wrist and started leading him off into some bushes and trees in the back of the lot. "Gonna ask about cat!" Eren called out to everyone else with a cheerful tone, and they seemed to accept it without question.

"You not a cat." Eren almost immediately said to Marco, once they were sufficiently hidden. Marco looked very surprised for a moment, but then wormed his way out of Jean's arms and answered with a string of something Jean couldn't even begin to understand.

"You know him already?" Eren said to Jean, while pointing to Marco.

"Uh…yeah…he lives in my closet." Jean explained. Eren literally growled for a moment, but Mikasa grabbed his shoulder.

"Why he not took none of your soul from you?" Eren asked. "How he is cat?"

"Disguise…" Marco said, as he maneuvered to the shadiest spot in the bush cover and took his green-skinned humanoid form, in a rather nauseating and unceremonious process of squelching, bulging, stretching, and contorting. Jean really wished he didn't look, as fascinating as it was. Luckily, he was also wearing shorts again in his humanoid form. Which was relieving, but not really convincing Jean that Marco wasn't somehow magical.

"Ah, talent!" Eren said with a smile, before turning to Jean again. "Why no soul?" Eren asked again.

"I dunno, it was kinda gross looking and I didn't want to eat it…" Jean said in discomfort.

"…Huh?" Eren said, looking rather dumbfounded. "…Didn't want to eat…" Eren thought for a moment, then his eyes widened, widened more than any human eye should until he had two pairs just like Marco's, but a sort of stormy grayish-green color. Jean felt a little bit queasy again at the sight, but he quickly sucked it up. "A trade?!" Eren said, looking to both Jean and Marco.

"Jean friend." Marco explained. "Very nice." He said warmly, with a toothy grin

"But… green skin… armor tendrils… animal talent… You… Bowyhqisgyxsu'zdt?" Eren said. Marco nodded.

"…But… Bowyhqisgyxsu'zdt!" Eren said again, disbelieving. "Meanest, toughest, scariest... Kids get nightmares for moons, for moons, for moons! Make kids wet bed! Make kids cry, make scream, make go crazy! Make kids want death! Seventh best scare family in whole country!" Eren said. Marco's eyes became a murky yellow and he looked away as Eren continued to speak. "Why yous Jean friend?"

"Maybe he just wants to, you ever think of that?" Jean said snappily, already noticing how Marco was becoming uncomfortable.

"…Is he…_alright_?" Eren said with an odd sort of stress on the word. "Did zdakrrujyi mix the egg bad?" he wondered aloud.

"Stop…" Marco said, eyes becoming murkier than ever.

"Maybe...parents gave up?" Eren wondered aloud. Marco's eyes darkened even further, they were verging on black now.

"Eren…don't…" Mikasa urged, but Eren didn't stop. Funnily enough, he didn't really seem to go too much further either. He just uttered some string of complicated syllables, and then suddenly, Marco seemed to be completely different. His eyes were entirely black, so deeply, disturbingly black they had no shine or gloss at all, simply looking like eerie, gaping holes. His skin seemed to bubble and slough as his spiracles opened wide and sucked in a vast amount of air. His four tendrils tore open the front of his chest, slowly revealing just a small part of an unholy menagerie of writhing, oozing, quivering madness…

Then both the sight and sound of him vanished from Jean's perception, but apparently not Eren's. The brown-haired boy let out a scream like nothing Jean had ever heard before, and he and Mikasa could only cover their ears as Eren began crying and frantically shouting indecipherable things. His hands became webbed and clawed and his skin became moist, grey, and rough as something hoisted him high into the air by his legs. Six long, greyish, squidlike tentacles extended from his back, coming out through his sleeves and collar and writhing about wildly. He frantically reached towards the ground and seemed to grab the shadows of the bushes themselves, his hands melting into them and his arms stretching to unnatural lengths as he desperately scrambled to pull himself towards them, muttering and hissing fretfully to himself in his own language the entire time.

"Eren!" Mikasa shouted, her voice rife with worry. Jean could only watch in confused, horrified silence. "Eren! Eren!" Mikasa cried, trying to pull him away from Marco's invisible horror. But just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. Eren suddenly fell, dropping right into the shadows, even causing them to 'splash'. Jean was extremely confused by the sight of it. The only part of Eren he could see was his foot and ankle, being pulled up by Mikasa now that Marco had let go. The rest of him had gone into the shadowy ground as if it were a pool of water. Marco appeared to Jean again shortly afterwards. He was panting heavily, retracting the last of a few barb-covered, oozing tendrils back into a steadily closing seam on his chest. Once Mikasa pulled Eren back up onto solid ground, Marco simply inhaled deeply, pulling an absolutely tremendous cloud of dense, black gas from Eren's body. For a moment, it covered such a wide area that Jean could only see pure darkness around him.

"What did you do to Eren?!" Mikasa shouted indignantly, as she bent down and held him in an elevated position, away from Marco.

Marco responded with an angry, miserable, breathless sounding burst of strange words.

"It was very rude of Eren, but still…" Mikasa said, glaring angrily at Marco. "He's not hurt..." Mikasa said with a sigh of relief. "But never, ever, EVER do it again, alright? I don't care WHAT you look like…" Mikasa said with a literal growl, although it seemed more like an imitation rather than the sounds Eren and Marco could make. Marco only nodded before going over to Jean and burying his face in the boy's shoulder, hugging him tightly. "He…he made me mad, Jean… he… made… so mad… He not mean it but… it hurts, Jean…" Marco muttered. Jean just absent-mindedly hugged him back, trying not to think of whatever the world could make anyone, let alone another monster, act as if they honestly believed they were going to die a horrible death. "I… I don't want hurt nobody, Jean. Honest I don't. You… you believe me, right?" Marco said quietly, softly, his voice cracking and whining as he did so.

"I believe you, Marco… Everyone gets mad sometimes." Jean said, not really sure what else to say. The wrong words could have devastating consequences. Eren got up shortly afterwards, looking rather disoriented but overall okay.

"That was…" Eren started, and Marco turned towards him, his eyes still murky, his body shaking slightly in anticipation of hatred and scorn. "That was FUCKING AMAZING!" Eren cried. Jean internally cringed at the swear word, but then again, there were no adults around. "Oh, Jean, yous very lucky! So lucky! So lucky! Yous be dead! It was best thing ever! I thought I was gonna pass out!" Eren cried, with an almost disturbingly passionate look in all four eyes. Mikasa cleared her throat behind him, and he quickly calmed down. "Argjhynyi fjsanzkyo, Marco. Yuhhrjysie." Eren said slowly, in the tone of an apology, as he spat a sphere of some glowing substance in his hand and then offered it to Marco, who hesitantly accepted. After inhaling its gases, Marco gave a faint smile. Eren extended tentacles from his back, which came up through his shirt collar and intertwined with two of Marco's own tendrils.

"Are… are things okay now?" Jean mumbled, suddenly feeling incredibly drained.

"Yes! Eren sorry, so I okay now." Marco said.

"…We're going home, I don't even wanna play baseball anymore... That was enough for one day…" Jean sighed, only just beginning to realize how weak his knees were feeling.

"I mess day up…" Marco mumbled, but Jean quickly spoke up.

"No, of course not! How was I s'posed to know Eren would make you angry? And why was he upset about the soul thing?"

"He was just worry! Thought you maybe done things to me, or I too weak. Dangerous in sun without soul… Need human soul for look human." Marco said.

"And what the heck was up with the thing where he fell through the ground and the shadows were like water?" Jean asked.

"Family talent. Shadow swimmer." Marco explained. "Make shadow liquid for him."

"And Mikasa…" Jean started. "What's with her? She didn't change shape or speak any of your language, but it seems like she understands you and isn't afraid of you…" Jean said.

"She…human…I…think… Smells human. But also like where we from." Marco said, sounding somewhat confused about it himself. "Where we from very dangerous for human… So… Not sure how…" Marco continued.

"..So like, how sure are you? Just curious." Jean asked, trying not to sound desperate.

"Mostly sure." Marco said.

"…Okay…" Jean said, finding that he strongly preferred to believe that Mikasa was in fact perfectly human and there was a good explanation for everything.

Jean could hardly feel any remorse as he told everyone he was just going to go home for the day, with Marco already by his side as a cat. After all, they could still ask Thomas. He let them keep the bat and just drop it off later, once Sasha pinky swore that she wouldn't let anyone steal or "borrow" it. A birthday present is one of a kid's greatest prides, after all.

As they walked back home, Jean couldn't help but feel he had to ask another question.

"Hey, uh, Marco… Not to be weird, but… Do you ever think humans are pretty?" Jean asked.

"Yes." Marco responded.

"Okay, so like, do you think Mikasa is pretty? I mean, not only that, she's so brave, too… Like, wow…"

"Mmm… Jean is definitely prettier." Marco said.

"What?!" Jean cried, causing Marco to giggle uncontrollably.

"Pretty pretty Jean!" Marco teased, enjoying the redness of Jean's cheeks.

"I'm not pretty! Boys aren't s'posed to be pretty!" Jean cried.

"Says who?" Marco asked.

"…Uh… Wait, that's actually kind of a good question…" Jean mumbled. "…Uh…The Man, that's who!"

"Who's that?"

"Some guy my dad complains about a lot. Says he's keeping us down or something." Jean answered.

"He just man, what he know?" Marco asked. "Your dad is man too, but he not even know I real."

"…Wow…" Jean said to himself, having honestly never thought of it that way. "Look at me, getting educated by Garfield over here…."

"Huh?" Marco asked.

"It's a joke. I'll explain when we get home, okay?" Jean said.

"Okay." Marco said. "…Pretty boy…" Marco added on, snickering as Jean blushed again.

Jean was absolutely sure he was going to have one of the weirdest summers of any kid ever. Except maybe the Digidestined. Their summer was pretty weird too.


	4. Chapter 4

**Monstrously Mild**  
><strong>Ch 4<strong>

* * *

><p>The rest of that day went rather smoothly, even though Marco was still somewhat worried that he had ruined Jean's day. But Jean assured him it was fine every time he tried to ask about it, especially because he'd never really wanted to play baseball very badly in the first place. They mostly passed the time watching cartoons, with Marco asking questions now and then. Jean got the feeling he was either extremely perceptive or considerably restraining his curiosity, since he was honestly prepared for Marco to talk more. However, the real turning point was when Jean absent-mindedly grabbed for his stuffed horse while sitting on his bed, and realized something potentially life-changing in the process.<p>

Horses were animals.

Marco could become animals.

Even if they weren't close in size.

Therefore, Marco could probably turn into a horse.

The thought threw Jean's young imagination into a frenzy, as he thought about the sheer glory of it all. A horse all to himself. He wouldn't need a stable or a ton of room or a bunch of hay or any of the frustrating things that kept Jean from having a horse before, because he's actually just Marco. He wouldn't need to be trained, because Marco was already smart enough to understand directions. He wouldn't even have to be taken to a vet! How had Jean not realized this before? He was sitting right next to what was probably the greatest thing that could ever happen to a boy! All his equine desires were finally within grasp, and now all he needed was a plan of action!

"Marcoooooo!" Jean cried, throwing himself at the boy sitting next to him and hugging him tight. "You know we're friends, right?" Jean said as sweetly as possible, smiling at the green-skinned child.

"Y-yeah!" Marco answered, caught off guard but obviously quite happy, if the wriggling ends of his tendrils and bright yellow eyes were any indication.

"But did you know we're already _best _friends?" Jean carefully ventured, his voice still practically dripping with sugar and honey.

"R-really?!" Marco said, as his tendrils suddenly flung themselves around Jean and he did his literal ear-to-ear smile. "Jean really care that much?" Marco asked incredulously.

"Yeah, we're best friends!" Jean repeated.

"W-wow!" Marco said, as if Christmas had come early. Before Jean could even get any further, Marco had already reached a tendril down his throat (how he didn't gag was beyond Jean) and yanked out a glowing, light green blob, covered in tiny squirming tendrils and dripping with ooze. Jean froze. Marco simply continued to grin like the Cheshire Cat, gently pushing it towards him. He still had to do the soul thing. Of _course _he still had to do the soul thing. Who the hell did he think he was, expecting to get a horse for nothing? Jean could only force himself to continue smiling as he shakily reached for the chunk of soul, noting how it was even warmer and slimier and less pleasant in real life. Jean considered his options as fast as his young mind possibly could. If he hesitated, Marco would find out it was a trick. And Jean still wasn't sure if he really wanted a guy who could stab holes through cans and lift him into the air to be mad at him, even if he was exceptionally kind and sensitive. If he outright refused, Marco would feel betrayed. That was probably just as likely to cause a bad reaction. If he tried for a distraction, Marco might see through it. …So, it seemed there was only one productive way to approach this situation. Because god damnit, he wanted a horse one way or another.

Jean took a deep breath, hoped it'd all be worth it in the end, and swallowed the green blob. Despite its slimy texture, it really wasn't too hard. It seemed to begin melting in his mouth immediately, and it had an unexpectedly rich and pleasant taste, somewhere between peanuts, apples, and caramel. Once that passed, it finished off with a brief, subtle aftertaste that was like a slightly bitter cross between mint and broccoli. Some of the essence invaded Jean's nose in the process, and he found it had a moist, sweet, earthy kind of smell, like he was in the middle of a damp forest full of ripe fruit.

And then came the aftermath. Strange pictures, unfamiliar memories, sights, sounds, words, pouring into his mind as some chaotic yet almost beautiful deluge of information. There was a vibrant orange sun, peering through the tallest trees he'd ever seen, with massive leaves and bark of a rich mahogany. Meanwhile, he ran on the shore of a sparkling lake, chasing little flying lights that he somehow knew weren't just fireflies. Something in the air changed in the middle of the chase, and he ran for the cover of the trees, climbing them with skill that wasn't his as he watched something bubble beneath the water. Excitement that was both his yet not his at all welled up inside of him as a massive, long-necked reptilian creature briefly stuck its head out of the water and then dove deep, allowing him a glimpse of its wide, powerful flippers as it did so. And that was far from the only memory. In one, he was swinging on thick tree branches, his arms long, bifurcated and green. In another, both his arms and tendrils worked together to excitedly tear a dead log apart. He was disgusted, yet somehow elated to find a fat yellow grub inside, as big and thick as his thigh. In yet another memory, he chased beautiful white rabbits across a vast clearing of snow and ice, only to catch one and discover it was made of the very snow and ice it had just been running upon.

This process had Jean so overwhelmed he hardly even registered Marco carefully sucking out and then swallowing a portion of his own soul, which still looked like the same swirling ball of crimson and cinnamon he'd seen in his mind.

But when it was over, after some brief period that simultaneously felt like years, Jean heard Marco speak. It was different from his usual voice, somehow. More confident, more natural and flowing somehow.

"Is everything alright, Jean?" he said. It was also significantly louder than Jean remembered, enough to make him back away a little. Come to think of it, colors had all become louder and more obnoxious than before, even seeming to bleed over the edges of objects.

"I… I think so."

"Yeah, if you understood that, then that means you should pretty much be okay. I'm so glad! This is really great, Jean!" Marco said, once again with unusual clarity and proficiency. What did he mean by 'if you understood that', anyway? And why was he so loud?

"Marco, I…my eyes hurt…" Jean complained, squinting as he continued to look around the obnoxiously bright and colorful room.

"That's fine. Just close them and relax a little, okay? …Uh, I'm probably talking too loud too, is that right?" Marco said. Jean could tell he was trying to be gentle, but it was still like his voice was right in his ear.

"Y-yeah… And you… Why are you so much better at it?" Jean asked.

"I didn't get any better. If you pay attention, you'll notice this isn't English." Marco replied. With a start, Jean realized he was right, especially when he closed his eyes and blocked out all the light. It was actually the same language he'd heard before, but now every word automatically made sense.

"Why didn't you tell me all of this before…" Jean mumbled, as he flopped down on the bed and clutched his head. "It's so much… just… so… much… everything." Jean grumbled, as he realized a headache was quickly forming.

"I'm really sorry. It was probably a little strong for you… maybe I gave you too much because I was excited." Marco said, as he laid down next to Jean and held him close, then began doing an odd, gurgling vibrating purr. Jean's mind was being pulled in so many directions he couldn't even protest, and he had to admit the vibrations were sort of helping.

"When does all the… y'know, weird stuff stop?" Jean almost wished he didn't ask, because Marco stopped vibrating to answer.

"You should be fine in a little while, but it might take a few days to be completely used to everything. I'm really sorry. I really didn't think this far ahead. I already knew what it'd be like, so I kind of just…" Marco trailed off sheepishly.

"…It's okay." Jean said. "I… I can tell from all the new stuff I know… I'm your first friend, aren't I? I've hardly seen anyone else in these memories…"

"Yeah… I tried not to give you anything too scary or sad." Marco said.

"I hardly even see your parents…" Jean added.

"Isn't that what I just said?" Marco added on, a bit snappily.

"…Uh… No? You just said you didn't give me anything sad or scary…"

"….Exactly." Marco replied. Jean could feel a sympathetic twinge of hurt, but Marco quickly kept talking. "I see your parents all the time though! And all those kids from earlier today, too! And your relatives!" he said jovially. "That's so nice, Jean! Everyone loves you so much!"

"…I don't see anyone." Jean mumbled with concern. "I see a lot of things, but… Why don't I see any other monster people?" Jean asked.

"You know why." Marco mumbled.

"Uh…no I don't? That's why I'm asking?" Jean responded somewhat sassily, but an odd twinge of sorrow, quickly told him he probably shouldn't have said that. Especially not with an attitude.

"It's because nobody-" Marco started, with dark yellow eyes.

"Marco, wait." Jean interrupted, already dreading what the next words would be. "Don't finish that."

"You already know what it is, don't you?" Marco grumbled, the yellow of his eyes becoming darker.

"Yeah, but it's so… I dunno, it's just a bad thing to say."

"Well it's true, and now you know it." Marco said, as he let go of Jean and sat up on the bed.

"Well it's not true, because I-"

"Don't try to say it yourself, because I know you only did this so you could ask me to turn into a horse." Marco said. Jean felt like he had been kicked in the stomach. He could plainly feel how upset Marco was about that particular detail. "I didn't even need any of your soul, I could already tell by how you were looking. It's pretty hard to lie to us, just so you know." Marco explained. "But still… I was really happy when you said you were my best friend! And I didn't think that you would actually take my soul, but you did! So that counts for something, right?! We can still be really great friends, even if it was just to make me feel like I should do something for you in return!" Marco said happily. Jean was rather disturbed by how sincere it was. He wanted to believe it was just something to make him feel guilty about what he did, but as far as he could tell, Marco was honestly saying he was so happy he didn't even care that Jean wasn't entirely honest. Which ironically made him feel even guiltier than any actual guilt trip could. In Marco's position, Jean would definitely be pissed off by now.

"You… you don't have to become a horse…" Jean mumbled, cheeks reddening with shame. "And you don't have to settle for things like that..." Jean continued.

"What do you mean?" Marco asked.

"I mean like what you just said. What I said wasn't okay. It was mean. I took a vantage…wait no, ADvantage of you." Jean said.

"But I knew all along, so it's okay." Marco said obliviously.

"No, don't you know anything?!" Jean cried. "People should be nice for nice reasons! It doesn't matter, that's just how it should be!"

"But you're already the nicest person I've ever met, Jean! You never try to hurt me, and you always listen, and you make me happy, and you smell nice, and you don't laugh at me. So if you act that way sometimes, it doesn't matter!" Marco reasoned.

"Yes it does!" Jean argued. "People aren't supposed to do mean things to you, and you're not supposed to let them!" he shouted. "How can you even be that stupid?!" Marco's eyes darkened, but he answered cheerily enough.

"Well, in storybooks, the nicest person always ends up with the best friends. So I figured that if I always acted nice, I'd get friends! And I was right, because now we're friends!" Marco responded. "And if I keep acting nice, eventually no one will be mean to me anymore!" Marco continued.

"You're wrong." Jean responded, wiping the smile off of Marco's face. "My mom says people should like you for who you really are. And if you're always nice, even when people don't deserve it-"

"But… Everyone deserves kindness!" Marco said. "Hurting people only makes it worse, so you should always just be nice!" Jean could only sigh deeply. What the heck was going to make this kid understand?

"Then why don't good guys always become friends with bad guys?" Jean asked.

"Because it's a story. They're the good guys, so they can do what they want, and they always win. But I'm not a good guy, so it won't work for me. I'm not really good at anything, and I don't ever win, so I can't do what they do. All I can do is be nice." Marco explained, sounding rather wistful as he said the last sentence.

"That's not true. You can do anything you want. Plus, you scared the pants off of Eren earlier, and he's not even a human." Jean told his friend.

"That… that was a mistake… and his pants were still on…" Marco answered. More than anything, it really just ticked Jean off.

"…You can do a lot, okay?!" Jean countered. "Like, what do you wanna do right now?"

"Uh…" Marco said, as he forced a smile. "What do you wanna do?" he asked, after a brief pause.

"No, I'm asking you! Pick something, and we can do it!" Jean said.

"…I don't know." Marco replied softly.

"There has to be SOMETHING! I've seen a million cool things from your memories, doesn't that give you ideas?" Jean asked.

"I can't take you to my world… It's too dangerous. Plus, I'm not from around here…" Marco said. "My parents put me here so I wouldn't try to come back home…" Marco explained.

"…So they ditched you?" Jean said, before suddenly being overwhelmed by a burst of deep regret, and rapidly opening his eyes again in horror. He almost instinctively knew what was about to happen next, but he could still hardly believe it. One moment, Marco was sitting beside him, and the next, he was pinning Jean to the bed. All four of his eyes were narrowed and blacker than coal, and a tendril was firmly wrapped around Jean's throat, with the claw pointing inwards.

"_Don't you EVER say that." _Marco hissed, his voice somehow echoing despite how lowly he spoke, as Jean looked back at him with wide, mortified eyes. The claw at the end of the constricting tendril was pressing into Jean's skin with more force than he'd like, and he suddenly remembered how Marco had opened the can of ravioli with sickening clarity.

But as soon as it had started, it had stopped. A thick black haze was pulled away from his skin, and Jean could only sit there in uncomfortable confusion as Marco backed away in horror, retracting his tendrils and clasping his hands over his mouth. "No… I… I didn't mean to do that…" Marco said, his eyes becoming a bit lighter in color and filling with tears. "I would never hurt you, Jean!" Marco said desperately, as he clumsily moved forward to hug him. But Jean reflexively kicked him back and moved as far away as his limited bed space would allow.

"Y-you were about to kill me…" Jean said in a small voice, gently putting a hand to his own throat.

"I-I was just upset, Jean! I made a mistake! I-I'm so sorry! I'll- uh... I'll be a horse! The... The best horse you've ever seen! Y-y-yeah, u-uhm, a stallion! A pegasus! A unicorn! Two heads! Six legs! Anything! Just… just don't hate me! I can do better! I can!" Marco frantically begged, as he dropped on his knees and took a groveling position. Marco's guilt and fear was welling up in Jean uncontrollably now, so despite his fear, Jean knew panicking wasn't actually going to help him… well, not be dead.

"Hey…" Jean started, after what felt like an eternity, although he still didn't dare get any closer to Marco. "I…uhm… I d-didn't mean to upset you… I-I didn't know you were so… so, uh, sensitive about them…" Jean said slowly.

"It'll be better some day." Marco said softly, as he sat upright. "As long as I keep trying to be the good guy, there'll be a happy ending…"

"H-hey… If you put it like that, do you like superheroes?" Jean gently asked. Anything to defuse the tension.

"Oh…y-yeah!" Marco said, his eyes lightening somewhat.

"Uhm… Do you know about Teen Titans?" Jean asked.

"No." Marco said. "What's that?"

"Only the best superhero cartoon ever! …I like the Powerpuff Girls too, but... don't tell anyone that..." Jean said, growing braver now that he seemed to have gotten Marco off the previous subject. "…Anyway, my mom recorded all the Teen Titans episodes so far!" Jean said, as he went over to a stand of various video games, DVDs, and VHS tapes near his TV and pulled out the appropriate VHS cases.

It didn't take long for Marco to react pretty much exactly as Jean hoped.

After a single episode, Marco was addicted.

Even though he was told how to use the remote to fast forward through commercials so each episode would only be about twenty-two minutes rather than thirty minutes, there were still twenty-two episodes that had aired so far. So that meant Marco watched Teen Titans for a little over eight hours straight, not even stopping when Jean brought him some spaghetti for dinner, or cherry pie for dessert. He'd just multitask. Jean was both impressed and a little worried by the sheer dedication. The worrying part was mostly because Marco would periodically get excited and move around while watching the show. Which wouldn't be so bad, if it didn't involve at least three occasions where Jean saw him hanging from the ceiling by his feet. In addition to that, there were several times where Marco would coil his tendrils together like a spiraling stalk and use them to balance his body above the ground, so he'd appear to be sitting in midair. Apparently, the very odd-looking action didn't even require him to be still, as he'd often swivel and sway his body on the tendril-stalk. Once, he was in the odd position for the majority of an episode, even managing to quickly rotate himself upside down and then right-side up again at one point, making Jean seriously wonder just _how _strong and flexible those tendrils were.

When Marco was finally done for the night, well after Jean was asleep, Jean had to deal with being woken up by Marco attempting to stealthily climb into bed.

"What the heck, Marco?!" Jean cried.

"I..I thought it was okay because you didn't say anything before! I don't have a bed and you looked really comfortable so-" Marco started, his voice rapid and fretful.

"…Fine…" Jean conceded, as he rolled over a bit to allow Marco some space. He managed to go back to sleep after that, but that didn't change the fact that he'd occasionally be woken up by claws pressing into his skin. Apparently, Marco had a strong tendency to grab him and wrap his tendrils around him in his sleep… Which was a bit unsettling, especially because every time he tried to move, Marco would mumble things like "Don't take him" or "Stop" or "Get away". It'd continue until Jean moved often or violently enough to wake Marco, at which point Marco would apologize… Only to do the exact same thing once he'd fallen asleep again.

Jean reflected incredulously on how in the span of about 24 hours, he had already gone and swallowed part of some monster's soul. Then that same monster almost killed him, then started crying, then developed an addiction to Teen Titans, then climbed into his bed and revealed that he was a very persistent and slightly painful cuddler. All because Jean had wanted a goddamn horse. Jean had never felt so incredibly stupid yet so incredibly lucky at the same time.

But it definitely wasn't the last time he'd feel that way.


	5. Chapter 5

**Monstrously Mild  
>Ch 5<strong>

* * *

><p>The next day, Marco woke up before Jean, and his ecstatic behavior rapidly forced Jean to get up as well.<p>

"What'll we do today, Jean? Huh? Do you think your other friends will like me?!" Marco gushed, as he leapt out of bed and spontaneously shifted to take the appearance of a human boy. The surprise was enough to snap Jean out of his drowsiness, although he did remember that this had been mentioned before. Still, Jean was taken aback by just how accurate the disguise was. Marco was still recognizable, although his skin was now a light brown and he was now missing features such as his horns, long ears, and sharp teeth. He did keep his freckles (although they had changed to dark brown), but he honestly seemed like an entirely normal boy.

Jean was especially thrown off by his eyes now. Where before, they were massive and alien, always shifting colors, they were now a warm, steady shade of honey brown. They reminded Jean of his mother. In a good way, at that. He wasn't exactly sure how he was supposed to feel about it. Just yesterday, this very same child could've killed him, so it seemed rather… odd… to see all of Marco's usual affection put behind such a normal, comforting face.

"Are you listening, Jean?" Marco asked, bringing his face closer to Jean's. "Did I do it right? Do I look human?" Marco asked, as Jean stared into his new eyes.

"Uhm… Y-yeah! They'll like you! You look fine!" Jean said, as Marco backed away and beamed, knowing Jean wasn't lying. The smile was no longer that creepy, impossible, overly-long one that Jean was still getting used to, but just as sweet and innocent as the emotions behind it. Somehow, he even had his own light green t-shirt now, but if he could even shape shift in the first place, Jean felt it was a bit silly to ask where it came from. In fact, Jean found that he was already very fond of the transformation, despite himself. It felt a little bit unfair, since he knew full well it wasn't what Marco really looked like.

"This is great, Jean!" Marco cried, hugging the boy tightly. No tendrils, no claws, just a good, tight hug. Jean would be lying if he denied feeling something just a tiny bit warm and fuzzy inside.

And then Marco just had to go and ruin it by opening and climbing into the bedroom window.

"What are you DOING, Marco?!" Jean cried, as the boy simply looked back at him and beamed again.

"It's faster to go outside this way, Jean!" Marco said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"That isn't going to hurt you?!"

"I've jumped from way higher than this!" Marco replied. From the memories he'd been given, Jean came to the unsettling realization that he was absolutely right.

"Don't you at least want breakfast first?" Jean asked with mild exasperation. He was tired, and it wasn't really the weirdest thing Marco had done so far, after all. Marco's sharp gasp and lightning-quick jump away from the window said it all. "I thought so." Jean said with a giggle. "Come on, we can make cereal and toast since my mom isn't up and… How early is it, anyway?" Jean wondered aloud.

"Not too early for food!" Marco answered, as he scrambled out of the room on all fours, only to trip and fall on his side in the hallway. "Human bodies are so weird…" Marco mumbled in mild annoyance, as he stood up and decided to wait for Jean before he embarrassed himself any further.

"Says the guy who kept squeezing me with his tentacle-thingies in his sleep." Jean replied, as he followed Marco into the hallway.

"I'm sorry, you just feel safe and comfy…" Marco responded.

"What were you even dreaming about anyway? Every time I tried to move you were whining in your sleep." Jean complained.

"I was?" Marco asked. "…I-I didn't say anything weird, did I?"

"Ever since I met you, I feel like I dunno know what weird really is now. Like, I was starting to think the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny weren't real, but you're weirder than both of those things put together so… Whatever, at least you don't stink." Jean answered with a shrug and a sigh, as he started towards the stairs.

"If you think about it, it's probably weirder that you thought everything was normal for so long." Marco added on thoughtfully.

Jean paused briefly before answering. "…I'm only seven years old and it's really early right now, I don't need your Jedi mind tricks…" he said before starting to walk again.

"Huh?"

"I'll tell you about it later. It's from Star Wars. You'd probably like it, 'cause it's about aliens and you're practically an alien yourself." Jean explained as he and Marco descended the stairs.

"I-I don't steal cows or make crop circles or anything like that!' Marco defensively retorted.

"You would if you were allowed to. And then you'd probably eat the whole cow." Jean teased. "What about your alien stories?"

"Not very many. Most of them are really old. There's no such thing as space where I'm from." Marco explained.

Jean paused again. "What do you mean there's no such thing as space?! The sun is in space!" he argued.

Marco looked at him for a moment, almost disbelieving, but then spoke up anyway. "Not ours. It's actually a lot smaller and closer. The stars, too. You can only go so high up. Plus, they're alive." Marco said.

"That doesn't make any sense!" Jean cried, although he could tell Marco wasn't lying.

"Our world isn't like yours. We'd know, since we used to live here. We made it ourselves, so it has its own rules." Marco explained.

"So you ARE magic."

"No we aren't."

"…Then how the heck…"

"There are people who can do way more than I can. Well, not so many anymore, but back then there were a lot… So they worked together." Marco explained.

"…If you lived here first, why even go through the trouble?"

"Because." Marco started. "We weren't careful, I guess."

Jean stayed quiet, not really sure what to say to that. He wasn't even sure where exactly Marco was going with the conversation.

"Basically, every monster and mythical creature humans can think of is real, and a lot of them are us. All the gods are us, too."

"…What?" Jean said flatly. "God is just…" he started in disbelief.

"Well, don't worry, he's not /really/ God. He just acts like it so it's easier to get your souls."

"…God is gonna eat my soul when I die?!" Jean cried, quickly growing distressed.

"Hey... Heeyyy… Don't worry… Probably…" Marco said in an attempt to be comforting, while patting Jean on the back. As Jean blanched, Marco hastily continued. "But like I said, you don't have to _really_ think any of them are God. Just do what you're comfortable with. Plus, you lose parts of your soul all the time. It's just normal." Marco explained. "The part you actually need doesn't go anywhere. Watch, I'll show you." Marco said, as he reached down his shirt and tugged open the skin of his chest like it were simply a jacket. Jean pointedly looked away, even though the shirt Marco had somehow acquired was covering it. Marco slid a tendril inside the gap and carefully pulled out a writhing, spherical mass of oozing, dripping, brightly glowing lime green, somewhat larger than a fist, and still attached to his strange insides by several long, black, sinewy cords.

"Beautiful." Jean muttered to himself, with not even a shred of honesty.

"Yeah, yours is a zillion times prettier… The best one I've ever seen, really." Marco said wistfully, frowning. Jean tensed up, not meaning for Marco to hear him. He was also realizing once again that Marco was speaking with complete honesty, and not just to make him feel bad about what he said. "But anyway!" Marco chirped, as he reached a tendril into his soul and pulled out what looked like a round, smooth, dark green stone, attached to several stretchy strands of glowing lime green. The main difference from a regular stone was that it seemed to be steadily 'breathing', repeatedly growing larger and then smaller. "See? This is the core! As long as you have this, you'll be fine!" Marco said with an excitement that seemed entirely too ordinary, as if he were simply showing someone a collection of baseball cards.

"That's…neat." Jean strained to say the word, and forced a smile. "You… /do/ remember we were gonna get breakfast, right?" Jean asked somewhat uncomfortably.

"Oh! Yeah, yeah!" Marco said, as he quickly placed his soul back in his chest and scrambled into the kitchen. Jean sighed deeply and followed.

He didn't know what exactly he was expecting, but it definitely wasn't Marco completely missing the entire point of cereal.

All of the cereal was kept on top of the refrigerator, and before Jean could even say anything, Marco had managed to climb on top of it almost effortlessly. He sniffed each of the four boxes they currently had and decided on the Cinnamon Toast Crunch with great excitement.

"This one smells like you, Jean!" Marco said, lifting the box up and showing it to him in excitement.

"…I don't smell like cinnamon." Jean retorted in minor confusion. "…Do I?" he continued, finding himself less and less sure of the entire world in general at this point.

"No, I mean your soul!" Marco continued. "Cinnamon." Marco said, before suddenly pausing for a moment and repeating it in English. "Cinna…mon…Jean… Cinna-mon…" Marco said, changing the pronunciation of 'mon'.

"I know what you're about to do and I don't like it." Jean responded flatly, but it was too late.

"Cinna-Jean!" Marco whooped. Jean could tell he was way too impressed with himself for coming up with the nickname.

"Just…just eat the frickin' cereal…" Jean mumbled, but this was exactly what made it obvious that Marco didn't fully understand the concept of cereal. Without further ado, Marco faced one of the bottom corners of the box towards his mouth and stretched it unnaturally wide, his jaw cracking and his teeth becoming sharp and gaining multiple rows in the process. "Marco, no, don'-" Jean started fretfully, but it was too late. With an almighty crunch, the bottom corner of the box was cleanly bitten off, and cereal was free to spill all over the refrigerator and floor.

"Mar-coOOO!" Jean screeched, his voice becoming high and squeaky with panic. Sure, his parents couldn't notice Marco, but they would definitely notice a cereal box with a huge, jagged bite mark in it.

"Mmmph!" Marco replied, chewing a few times and then swallowing hard before removing chunks of plastic and cardboard from his mouth. How charming.

"My parents will be so mad, Marco!" Jean cried, desperately attempting to clean the mess of cereal up with paper towel and his small hands. That was almost a full box, how was he supposed to tell his parents he actually ate an entire box of cereal?! His mom was already saying he was 'a pudgy little man' as it was.

"…I… I could make them forget about it… Probably." Marco explained.

"What?!" Jean said, now at full attention.

"It's a backup for when you forget to be or can't be invisible for some reason… We can change memories… But it's not very easy…" Marco continued. "I-I haven't had a lot of practice… b-but I think I can do it." he said.

"Okay then, you do that!" Jean said frantically, whatever wouldn't get him in trouble was a good idea to him. Marco immediately left for their room, while Jean continued to clean the best way a young child knew how.

All in all, the process took about ten minutes, and Marco returned looking very relieved.

"I did it!" he cried triumphantly. "I didn't mess anything up! …At least, I don't think so…" Marco mumbled the last part.

Of course, Jean wasn't really sure how to react when his parents woke up and drowsily complained about how they couldn't remember what they did at all yesterday. And Jean could only look to Marco with a thankful but somewhat exasperated smile when they came into the kitchen and not only failed to notice the missing Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but expressed genuine surprise regarding how much food there was. Apparently, they were under the impression they hadn't gone grocery shopping in over a week.

* * *

><p>By time lunch rolled around and Jean had gone back up into his room to play with Marco, he nearly jumped straight through the ceiling when he noticed a long, grey, somewhat familiar octopus tentacle reaching out of his closet. It seemed to curiously worm its way about, patting at the floor and the doorway, before suddenly making a couple of tentative reaching gestures towards Jean and Marco. As if it were the most normal thing in the world, Marco went over and briefly shook the tentacle up and down with a tendril of his own. As soon as he finished, the owner of the tentacle entered the room, followed by a familiar girl with pretty black hair and a thick red scarf.<p>

"M-mikasa!" Jean gasped, caught completely off guard. "…And… Ethan? Jeez, you're uglier than I remember…" Jean grumbled.

"It's Eren!" Eren grumpily corrected, his four undisguised eyes deepening to a dull, cloudy blue. He was no longer in human form, and Jean wasn't exactly grateful for it. His small pair of upper eyes were actually on stalks a few inches long, like some sort of unsettling, oversized crustacean. His teeth were long, thin and sharp. He didn't really have a nose so much as two nostril holes on his face, and he had two long barbels on the sides of his mouth. He was a dark grey all over, his skin moist and much like a shark's, although he had fins on his forearms and calves that were much frillier and more delicate looking than shark fins. Even his ears were webbed and finlike. His knuckles and joints seemed to have some sort of dark blue carapace covering them like a natural sort of armor. Jean was glad he was wearing a black t-shirt, he didn't exactly want to know what else was different about Eren.

"Oh. Right." Jean said, not sounding particularly sorry. "Why are you here, anyway?!" Jean demanded to know, before nervously glancing at Mikasa again. "N-not that it's a bad thing…"

"I don't give a single sucker about you, I'm here 'cause of Marco... Although I sense that you have a piece of his soul now... That you probably don't deserve... But whatever, at least it means I don't need to speak English..." Eren said dismissively, before continuing as if he had never said anything insulting at all. "Anyway, I was still feeling bad about before, and I remembered that Marco looked pretty hungry, so Mikasa and I got him a gift!"

"What gift?" Jean asked, almost a little jealous. At least until Mikasa suddenly reached underneath her scarf and steadily pulled out a plump, deep brown eel with a bright yellow underside. It was perhaps as long and thick as a man's arm. Jean could only gape at her as she did so, since the scarf didn't have a single bulge or wet spot to suggest it was somehow carrying an entire eel of such size and length. Even more interestingly, it wasn't entirely an eel. Ten long, brown, crustacean legs dangled from its body, just a short ways behind the head. The mouth was full of crustaceous mouthparts, looking as if it had swallowed a large shrimp tail first but never finished. Its eyes were glassy and empty, and it was quite obviously dead.

"Food!" Eren said happily, his eyes a verdant, sparkling green. "Fresh!"

Jean was absolutely disgusted by this offering, scrunching his face and sticking his tongue out at it, but Marco wasn't. With a squealing trill, Marco bounded forward and hugged Mikasa tightly, leaving the girl with a very conflicted expression while Jean looked on with a scowl.

Luckily, Jean looked away by time Marco grabbed it from Mikasa's hand, since Marco almost immediately took a bite that removed most of the head, followed by a loud, gurgling purr. " 'S been so long since I had anything so fresh and raw…" Marco said through a mouth full of fish guts, allowing Jean to clearly hear the rather disgusting squelches of the raw flesh against Marco's teeth. Why exactly was he friends with him, again? Meanwhile, Mikasa was back to a neutral expression, and Eren was actually smiling.

"You don't say…" Jean mumbled, before turning his attention to Mikasa. "S-so… uhm… I like your… magic scarf… it's… it's pretty…"

"It's not magic." Mikasa immediately responded.

"_What's with everyone not thinking magic things are magic?!" _Jean thought to himself, but he pressed on. "R-right! Sorry! I… I guess y-your… feet is the real magic here, huh?" Jean struggled to say, only to realize it wasn't what he meant at all.

"…Feet?" Mikasa mumbled to herself, looking down as if she might have missed something.

"I meant face! Face! Your magic is the real face here!" Jean frantically corrected, only to internally kick himself once again. At this point, Eren's general happiness was threatening to become laughter, and even Marco briefly stopped eating to crack a wide grin.

"I'm… not magic?" Miaksa reiterated in complete confusion, cocking an eyebrow and tilting her head a bit. "Are okay, Jean? Your… face is kinda red…" Mikasa somewhat awkwardly asked.

"I-I'm fine!" Jean said in a very unsteady and unconvincing tone. "C-cross my heart and hope to die!" Yeah, that ought to win some points back, a catchy saying always-

"But if I… crossed your heart, you'd probably die because I'd squish it… Why would it be me that hopes to die?" Mikasa asked, furrowing her eyebrows as she spoke. Jean's eyes widened and his gaze began to nervously flit around the room once he realized that she had actually never heard of the expression before, and now he was just confusing her and probably making her feel stupid. Smooth. Real smooth.

"No! I was… I was joking, okay? Around here, we just say stuff that makes no sense! Y-yeah! No sense! Ahahaha!" Jean insisted.

"You weren't joking." Marco chimed in, his tone completely nonchalant. Thankfully, he wasn't talking with his mouth full.

"_Oh no, he actually thinks he's helping…"_ Jean said to himself, but it was too late.

"You were just trying to say that you think Mikasa is very pretty, but you were too nervous and you used weird expressions for some weird reason." Marco said. Mikasa stiffened, but didn't even blush. Eren was less than supportive.

"THAT'S all you were trying to say? What are you, stupid? How hard is it to call someone pretty?" Eren cried, not even trying to hold back his laughter in the process.

"Shut up, Squidward!" Jean shouted back. Eren was entirely silent for several seconds. "_Yeah… I sure showed him…" _and similar thoughts were just starting to enter Jean's mind when Eren suddenly smiled again, his eyes becoming a very bright green.

"I LOVE Spongebob! I can't believe humans made something so funny! Am I really like Squidward?!" Eren asked. Point completely missed. Jean and Mikasa simply groaned.

"No, you're about twice as stupid." Jean mumbled.

"Jean!" Mikasa immediately scolded, causing the boy to tightly shut his mouth. Marco was too busy devouring the eel-crab to react meaningfully.

"Uh… so, what do you look like, Mikasa?" Jean asked.

"…I always look like this." Mikasa hesitantly answered, looking somewhat uncomfortable.

"So you're… human?" Jean almost painfully continued. He felt like out of all things, this was one he /really/ needed to know.

"Yes." Mikasa answered simply. Jean almost wanted to cry out in celebration.

"…What about the scarf then?" Jean asked. God, these people were confusing.

"Eren made it for me." Mikasa answered. "Mom is teaching us how to knit with soulthread." She continued.

'_One question answered, a bajillion new ones…' _Jean thought, not at all appreciative of how she was just /assuming/ he had any idea what this 'soulthread' was. And she was calling what was probably some giant, horrific fish monster 'Mom', so he wasn't even going to ask about that.

"You take a little bit of some soul, knead it, flatten it, pull it into strings, and then mix it with some other fabric to make it do stuff it normally can't." Eren explained for her. "That's how I made Mikasa's /totally awesome/ scarf."

"So it's basically-" Jean started.

"Don't say it!" Eren snapped. "NOT magic! It's hard work!" Eren grumbled.

"Ugh… Are you guys /always/ so weird and hard to deal with? I mean, some of this stuff is really cool, but I was already having a lot of fun being a normal kid…" Jean

"What are you talking about? We're normal kids too! Don't blame your crap on us!" Eren retorted.

"YOU? Normal? You can't even spell normal!" Jean shouted.

"No, I can't, because English is stupid as fuck!" Eren spat.

"No, because you're stupid as… heck…" Jean mumbled the last word. Even if his mother couldn't hear him, it'd be just his luck that his swear somehow pierces the mute-zone.

"I'm really that weird and hard to deal with?" Marco mumbled worriedly, having finished his meal in record time as usual. His eyes became a cloudy yellow as he said it.

"No, Marco, it's just-" Jean turned back to Eren. "Now look what you made me do!"

"You didn't have to say it!" Eren pointed out. Jean actually had to pause before he could think of something to say. God, the comebacks that are actually true are always the most trouble.

"Yeah well, I wouldn't have if you didn't make things so weird!" Jean shot back somewhat weakly.

"Marco looks like he's been starving to death and I'm weird?!" Eren shouted back, his eyes blackening for a brief moment. Jean immediately shrank back.

"I-"

"More than one person is allowed to help him, you stingy ape!" Eren said. Jean now felt a completely unwanted and all too familiar tightness in his chest and throat. "If you knew about him sooner, he could've been eating better! Where were you then, huh? Wetting your bed?" Eren asked bitterly. Jean breathed in deeply, but the tightness wasn't leaving. His eyes were getting wetter, and he was afraid to talk because it'd give him away.

"Eren, you're making him sad!" Mikasa cried.

"Well good! Whatever! I still don't trust him! Like Marco would really starve by himself! Jean's probably been putting salt around his bed! Maybe even garlic, or worse, iron fillings! He just made Marco cover for him!" Eren cried. Jean honestly had no idea how the hell any of those things would even begin to stop Marco, but he was too upset to care at that point. Hot tears started to roll down his cheeks. Almost immediately, he heard Marco speak up, his voice low and threatening.

"_**You made Jean cry."**_ Marco hissed darkly, his voice somehow echoing once again.

"Marco, please…" Mikasa started, but Marco didn't stop.

"_**You made Jean cry. You're wrong. You're wrong. You're. Wrong. And! YOU! MADE! JEAN! CRY!" **_Marco wailed, his voice escalating into something more like a crashing, demonic howl than any child's voice, his eyes now black like gaping holes as his tendrils flailed about wildly. Both Eren and Mikasa rapidly shrank back, clinging to each other with rapid breaths and slightly open mouths.

"C-calm down, Marco…" Eren muttered nervously. "I just didn't realize that you're in love with him, that's all..." Although Eren seemed sincere, the change in Marco's demeanor was immediate. From a being of pure, dark hatred to a flustered little boy. His eyes were cherry red now, and he knotted his tendrils behind him as he backed away.

"I don't!" he practically squeaked, a far cry from his demonic tone a moment ago. "I just care about him. Because we're friends. Good friends. And he smells nice. And I am not weird or in love with him for thinking so." Marco said far too quickly.

"Except you kind of are because Jean doesn't smell good at all?" Eren answered, but when met with a snarl from Marco, he added on a "Just saying." When Jean shot back something that couldn't really be understood due to his tears, Marco just wrapped him in his tendrils and murmured comforting things.

"Eren…" Mikasa said in a warning tone.

"What?" Eren whined. "Don't tell me I'm supposed to-"

'Yes you are." Mikasa flatly stated. Eren just sighed and mumbled a rather awkward apology before stretching a couple of his tentacles foward to offer Jean and Marco two small spheres of glowing gas, just as he had done yesterday. As soon as the boys took them, Mikasa spoke again. "Come on. We're going home. You made it weird." Mikasa said, grabbing one of his tentacles.

"Jean made it weird!" Eren cried, before Mikasa suddenly took his tentacle in both hands and got a white-knuckled grip on it, giving Eren an icy glare. "Mikasa, no, please!" Eren pleaded, the greenish gray of his eyes apparently signaling alarm.

"Admit you're wrong." Mikasa said flatly.

"I said sorry!" Eren cried, but that was apparently the wrong answer. Mikasa twisted Eren's tentacle with all her might, causing Eren such sharp pain that he apparently couldn't even scream properly, just letting out a small, aborted yelp as his mouth hung open in silent agony. Jean laughed a bit, despite his tears. When Mikasa stopped, Eren immediately began to speak. "Okay okay I'm sorry I made Jean cry and didn't trust him and made Marco angry and whatever else I did wrong!" Eren spluttered, which seemed to be good enough for Mikasa. Without another word, she pulled him back through Jean's closet with her, where they seemed to almost melt away into the darkness.

"…Marco, I think we're staying home today…" Jean mumbled, wiping at his eyes. "You guys are just so much to deal with…"

"Do you want to play with Connie and Sasha and leave me alone?" Marco suggested, although he sounded rather disappointed, almost like he wanted Jean to say yes because he felt he deserved it.

"No, I… I get why you did that. I get why you got upset. Thanks for… thanks for caring so much about me, I guess." Jean mumbled.

The rest of that day passed with relative quickness and ease. But that night, Jean figured it was /his/ turn to be a bit annoying now. Marco was already drifting off to sleep, perfectly content to be clinging to Jean, but Jean wasn't just going to let it slide. He had questions.

"Is your soul going to turn me into a monster or anything? I already kind of noticed it's easier to see and hear stuff now…"

"No, besides that, basically all it does is let you understand me and see some of my memories and stuff. Promise." Marco said.

"So my soul is fine, right? It's gonna grow back or something?"

"Yes, Jean. I wouldn't hurt you. You're so pretty… souled. As in, your soul is pretty…" Marco said, somewhat nervously.

"What exactly happens when your parents find out we're friends?" Jean asked. Marco's breath immediately hitched and the grip of his tendrils tightened momentarily.

"Everything's gonna be okay, Jean." Marco murmured, obviously struggling to control his tone. "Everything's gonna be okay." Somehow, Jean felt like he'd officially ruined question time after that.

* * *

><p>A week passed by in a rush of new experiences, conversations, and everything else. Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie never seemed to show up lately, but Jean managed to introduce Marco in his human form just fine. Franz commented that he sounded "just like that cat from the other day!" on one occasion, but Jean nervously took him aside and made him pinky-swear that the cat was an absolute secret. Other than that, everything went fine. Marco was a very nice boy, and very agreeable and even-tempered, since no one hurt Jean, and none of the other kids knew about his parental berserk button in the first place. He seemed excited to do pretty much anything, quickly learning every game and laughing at every joke, even if he didn't quite understand it. The only excuse he needed for his oddity was that he was from Belgium, which the other kids absolutely ate up. But why Belgium, Jean wasn't really sure. It just sounded cool. They made nice waffles there, so it seemed like a nice place to pretend to be from.<p>

But just at the start of week two of Marco's masquerade, Jean badly scraped his knee during a game of tag with Connie and Sasha, who were basically a universal constant whenever Jean went out to play. It had rained recently, just enough to dampen the ground and make things wet and slick. The gravel in Jean's driveway was no exception. But unfortunately, he'd managed to slip on it.

Marco's reaction was immediate. He bent down next to Jean, worriedly inspecting the dirty, abraded, modestly bleeding skin of his left knee. "Jean! Jean, are you okay?!" Marco said worriedly.

"All I did was hurt my knee…" Jean said, although in reality, the words 'don't cry' were continually rushing through his head at this point. But apparently Marco wasn't having any of this, since Jean was promptly picked up bridal style. "Jeez, I forgot how strong you are…" Jean mumbled, not really sure exactly how much he wanted it to be happening.

"How are you doing that?! Jean weighs like a million pounds!" Connie cried from some distance away, after he stopped running and realized something was amiss. He was originally the one who Jean had been chasing, since Jean was 'it', and Connie had the shortest legs. But as the accident made clear, Connie's legs betrayed some surprising agility.

"Oooh, he's like a princess! A chubby boy princess! And Marco is the big strong knight!" Sasha cried out, after popping out from around the corner of Jean's house. She hadn't been it even once yet. Sasha Braus was a revolutionary, almost unfair kind of fast. You almost had to sneak up on her.

But still, Jean blushed a bit at Sasha's commentary. He wouldn't exactly hate being a princess... But of course, he was a boy, and all of that had to stay a deep, dark secret. But then again… just this once… He could at least joke around a little, right? After all, he would probably never get carried like a princess again…

"My hero." Jean said lightheartedly, giggling a little as he did so.

"Hero?! Me?!" Marco said, looking completely taken aback. Jean had come to truly know just how much Marco seemed to love anything at all about heroes, so he knew how seriously he took it. All the more reason to keep it up.

"Yup, the bravest one there is!" Jean gushed. Marco's eyes practically sparkled at those words, and he smiled wide. He giggled as he started walking towards Jean's front porch, easily managing to play along.

"Then I shall take you back to your castle, and we shall get the treatment needed to cure the horrible curse of the slippery rocks!" Marco said, doing his best attempt at a heroic voice. Jean was enjoying himself so much he actually felt rather strange about it when Marco finished the trip to Jean's front door with ease, despite the fact that his porch also had several stairs, and gently put him down. On one hand, he kinda liked being carried by Marco… On the other hand, he felt like he wasn't really supposed to. Wasn't Marco some kind of fear-sucking nightmare? After all, he'd had one of those "feedings" with him just earlier that morning… And there was still that time when he could've been killed... But at the same time, Jean would be lying if he said he didn't like Marco, for the most part. He was funny (if not always intentionally), easy to talk to, understanding, non-judgmental, affectionate, and unwaveringly loyal.

Jean decided he'd just answer the self-imposed question later as he went into his house and told his mom about what happened. She immediately lapsed into statements along the lines of "Oh, my poor boy!" and had him sit on the living room couch as she rushed off to get the first aid kit. Used to being unseen and unheard by Jean's parents, Marco simply came in and watched. He was intrigued by the whole process (although a bit angered and confused by how she put some kind of stinging water, apparently called 'alcohol' on it), but the last part was most interesting of all.

Jean's mother had pressed a kiss to the horse-themed bandage she had just put on her child's wound, and Marco had not the slightest idea what for.

"Why did she kiss you, Jean?" Marco asked, once Jean had gone back outside.

"It makes it better faster." Jean answered simply.

"…Can I kiss it too, then?" Marco asked.

"…That's kinda weird…" Jean mumbled. "Usually it's something your mom does."

"But… but I wanna help make it better…" Marco protested.

"Jeez, why do you wanna kiss me so bad, anyway? What are you, actually in love with me like Eren said?" Jean joked, but Marco pointedly turned away.

"Because you're Jean! And Jean is special!" Marco said with an air of conviction and finality.

"…Okay, I guess it can't hurt anything… Unless you have monster cooties… Monster cooties aren't real, right? They're fake like girl cooties?" Jean asked, having started with a joke but realizing he couldn't exactly just assume things like that anymore, not with Marco always surprising him.

"I don't even know what they are, so I guess so." Marco said with a smile, as Jean sat down on the porch steps. When Marco bended down and kissed Jean's bandaid, Jean almost expected it to heal right away. That's just how much Marco had completely shattered his usual understanding of the world. But of course, the wound stayed, yet Marco was somehow right…

He somehow did feel a little better.

And then came Sasha. She and Connie were at the bottom of the steps now, looking up at Jean and Marco. And Jean could /see/ the trademark mischievous gleam in her and Connie's eyes. When it came to playing jokes or raising hell, they almost seemed to have a telepathic bond. "Hey Marco!" Connie started, with a wide grin. "Jean'll feel EXTRA better if you kiss him on the faaace~" Connie said. Sasha nodded in agreement.

"It's only natural, 'cause you're his knight!" Sasha called teasingly.

And of course, Marco didn't ignore them. Jean blushed and squirmed madly as Marco looked at his face, and for a moment, it seemed like he knew they were lying, and he would simply blow them off. But that was before he saw the small cut on Jean's lip. Jean was about to pay a heavy price for not particularly caring about Vaseline or lip balm in his young age.

With a small spark of alarm in his eyes, Marco moved in. As far as he was concerned, Jean still had an injury to be kissed.

Connie and Sasha gasped, and Jean's eyes widened. His face was growing ridiculously hot, and he had no idea how to react. All he could think was that somehow, it was exceedingly far from the worst thing to ever happen to him. Just like Jean had offhandedly noticed when he started sharing his bed with Marco, he didn't even smell bad. It was almost surreal, his body kept itself deceptively clean despite how clearly inhuman it could be.

But it was far from anything of dire seriousness or incredible passion. In just one incredibly long second, the simple, naïve kiss was over.

And in that one second, Connie and Sasha decided.

There would be so, so, so many jokes about Jean and Marco being boyfriends.

And they would never, ever, ever end.


	6. Chapter 6

**Monstrously Mild  
>Ch 6<strong>

* * *

><p>Jean's thoughts were all moving lightning fast at this point. He just had his first kiss. He just had his first kiss with a boy. A boy who wasn't even human. There was only one thing to do. Jean pushed Marco away with wide, frantic eyes, and immediately stood up. "W-what was that for?!" Jean cried, covering his lips with one hand.<p>

"There was cut on them." Marco said.

"T-those don't count! D-don't kiss me there! Actually, just don't kiss me at all anymore ever!"

"…Why not?" Marco asked, with a slightly defeated expression.

"Why not? Why not?! That's like, boyfriend stuff, Marco! If we keep doing this stuff, then we're going to have to get married!" Jean cried.

"Isn't married when with someone forever?" Marco asked.

"Yeah…" Jean answered.

"Then I want marry you, Jean! Why is that bad thing? " Marco asked cheerily. Since Connie and Sasha were nearby, he was speaking English, which only embarrassed Jean more.

"You're not even… Not even… We're just kids! You have to grow up to get married!" Jean told him shortly. He was going to cite a much different reason, but he realized he and Marco had a secret to be keeping.

"Oh, so when we grow up?!" Marco said excitedly. Jean could feel Marco's soul excitedly bouncing around in his chest. "Okay, I can wait!"

"N-no! What if- what if you change your mind?! Who says we should even be together forever?! That's, you know, FOREVER!" Jean asked in a panic.

"You're my favorite, Jean. You're always my favorite! I promise!" Marco said, causing Jean to get rather flustered.

"Awwww!" Sasha cried. She and Connie hadn't stopped smiling up at them ever since Jean first got kissed.

"Wait 'til Reiner gets a load of this!" Connie said with a snigger.

"W-whatever! You don't really know what you're saying!" Jean countered.

"I'm saying together forever! Family!" Marco reiterated joyfully.

"You're not making this easy!" Jean cried.

"I think it is." Marco said simply.

"Okay, fine. If like, ten whole years pass, and you still wanna marry me for whatever dumb reason… I'll think about it. Don't be surprised if I say no." Jean grumpily explained, just hoping Marco would be satisfied.

"Oooh, okay!" Marco gushed happily, shaking his fists up and down in excitement.

"You guys are sooo cuuutee!" Sasha squealed, as Jean descended the staircase in frustration.

"Invite me to the wedding!" Connie teased, grinning widely. Jean sort of wanted to punch that smile clean off of his face.

After enduring a whole day of Connie and Sasha teasing him about "having a boyfriend", and Jean scowling all the more because it seemed like Marco was entirely unoffended, just smiling and giggling every time, Jean was relieved he'd finally have a chance to straighten his new (Best? Worst?) friend out once they were safely back in Jean's room.

* * *

><p>"Marco, you can't just let them think we're boyfriends!" Jean whined, as he flopped onto his bed.<p>

"It's a joke, I can tell." Marco said. "…But why exactly do you think it'd be so bad if we were?" Marco asked.

"We're a human and a monster! How does that even work?!" Jean demanded to know.

"How does anything work at all? What do you really know, Jean? You are a seven year old human… I've seen a lot more than you. I'm not trying to be rude, it's just the truth." Marco said.

"What?! You don't even know anything about TV and video games, and you're confused by stuff like _rubbing alcohol_!" Jean protested.

"And you don't know about what most of my world even looks like. Or most of what lives in it. Or how to hunt and forage. Or even that I'm…" Marco started, but he suddenly froze up.

"What?" Jean asked. "You're what?"

"The bogeyman's son…" Marco mumbled, shame creeping into his voice.

"The bogeyman?" Jean asked, eyes widening in recognition.

"Yes, that bogeyman. The guy that's scared millions and millions of children without rest. And I'm his son. The stupid, useless, spineless, lucky-to-be-alive, cowardly-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there, you're like the _exact opposite_ of a coward." Jean asserted. "A coward wouldn't have some crazy rage temper and ignore his parents just to be friends with me." Jean smiled as best he could, although he was quickly realizing that bringing up Marco's unwanted flashes of murderously powerful anger could never come off as a very tactful way to compliment him.

"I'm the reason we're seventh place in this country… We were first, until I messed everything up. I was three years late. I was supposed to start scaring when I was five." Marco somberly explained.

"That sounds more like a really stupid rule than you actually messing things up." Jean explained. "What the heck is a five year old supposed to do alone?! I can't even…" Jean became a bit hesitant to continue, since what he was about to reveal was not at all befitting of any 'tough boy' image he was trying to cultivate. "I can't even lose my mom in a store without crying…" Jean admitted softly.

"Pfft." Marco responded, smiling and giggling a little. "Don't be ashamed, Jean! I think it's really cute of you, because that means you care a lot about your mom!"

"I'm NOT cute." Jean grumbled, crossing his arms tight.

"Except for when you are."

"Which is never."

"If never means a whole lot, then yeah." Marco countered, causing Jean to scowl and Marco to just giggle again. "Don't be mad, Jean." Marco said with another giggle, making a gurgling purr in an effort to calm the human boy. Jean didn't know what he liked so much about that noise, but it was oddly effective. It was like a rhythmic, bubbling, thrumming kind of sound, non-threatening and easy to listen to.

"But seriously, five?! Does like, someone else come with you, like your friend or your cousin or a teacher or something?" Jean asked incredulously

"Monsters in general grow up quick. It's different for us. I actually remember hatching from my cocoon. We can already walk and eat solid food."

"Wait, you're not like a dog or something, are you?" Jean asked, suddenly fearful. "You're not gonna die when you're only twelve or fifteen or something, right?!"

"It's the opposite, really. A book I read explained it. Our childhoods are always really short because we have a lot of predators and dangers to worry about… But really, I took six years just to hatch. And my dad is way, way, way older than any human. And my mom's a tree-troll, she's about 190 I think…" Marco explained, as Jean just stared, slack jawed. "Anyway… why are you so worried about me dying, Jean? Thought you said you didn't want us together forever!" Marco teased, grinning that literally impossible grin of his. Jean was definitely getting more used to it.

"I never meant it like that… I know how lonely you've been…" Jean explained. "And you try really hard to be a nice person, even though it'd be so easy not to be. But I really do want to keep being your friend…" Jean admitted.

Marco let out a strong laugh. "That'd be great, Jean! We could even have you turn into a vampire! Wouldn't that be cool?!" Marco gushed.

"…T-those are real too?" Jean asked, quickly growing nervous. "A-and zombies?!" Jean continued, his imagination quickly filling his mind with a veritable kitchen sink of different terrifying creatures from there.

"_**No one **_will hurt you, Jean." Marco said, his voice taking on an eerie echo as he said 'no one'. "_**I will not let them." **_He continued, his eyes dark red and his voice such an echoing hiss that Jean almost didn't understand him. "…Uh, I'm sorry. That was weird, wasn't it?" Marco continued after a brief pause, his eyes now yellow again.

"Yup." Jean said simply, knowing there was no point in lying or sugarcoating.

"S-sorry. I've never met anyone like you before… So I wanna protect you… Things happen where I'm from, Jean. Awful things happen for no good reason… So I just wanna protect you…" Marco explained.

"…So you told me a little about your mom and dad, but uh, what about the third one? The one that made your cocoon?" Jean asked.

"…" Marco was dead silent for a moment, his eyes fluctuating between many shades of red, orange, and yellow. For a moment, Jean considered it a strangely beautiful thing to watch, before Marco finally spoke up.

"Ilse…" Marco muttered, his eyes settling on a dirty mustard yellow. Jean could feel Marco's emotions right in his chest, heavy and oppressive. He was starting to wish he hadn't asked. "Ilse was so…" Marco's eyes began to moisten, and he blinked a few times before continuing. "She was… so much different." More blinking. "I loved her…" Marco murmured, as tears began to slide down his cheeks.

"Oh no…" Jean said in a small voice. There was no denying what Marco was trying to get at. "Marco, it's okay, you don't have to-"

"Do you want to see, Jean?" Marco asked, as he took a deep breath.

"…Okay." Jean answered, half-knowing what Marco was referring to. With a nod, Marco breathed even deeper, his chest expanding ever wider before he cupped his hands in front of him and began to breathe out the largest gaseous bubble Jean had ever seen so far. This one could just barely be held in a single hand, and it was bright and luminous. It contained every color of the rainbow, and more still, swirling around with a gentle yet intoxicating sort of beauty. With great care, Marco handed the glorious orb to Jean, who could do nothing but stare in amazement for a moment or two.

* * *

><p>The bubble popped almost too easily as Jean dug his fingernails into it, and the rich, strong gases flooded his senses. Jean now felt like he were back in the massive forest, standing in front of a tall woman with somewhat dirty but kind features. She had shoulder length black hair and brown, freckled skin, much like Marco's human form. Four lithe yet toned and powerful looking arms were at her side, equipped with curved black claws and thousands of sparse, bristling hairs, like tiny little hooks rather than normal hair. She had four eyes, but they were all perfectly circular, and lacking pupils. They were the same golden yellow color as Marco's. Four long yet powerful brown spider legs radiated from her back, ending in sharp claws. She had a full set of strong, sharp teeth as she smiled down at the memory's younger Marco, and two massive, crushing fangs jutted out from the sides of her mouth, each pointing inwards.<p>

'_Spider-Man has nothing on this.' _Jean thought, his opinions somewhere between awe and horror as the memories continued. Marco was very small at first, unable to answer Ilse with anything but noises and simple, single words. He chewed on mostly everything, and stumbled often. But the memories continued. Ilse counting with Marco, Ilse reading books to him, Ilse playing with him, carrying him, singing to him, teaching him… And then, everything was simply blank… Up until a memory that was significantly less happy than any others.

It was clearly winter, and Marco was dressed in some sort of fur cloak as he stood in front of a snowman… which happened to have four round pebble eyes, a variety of miniscule holes poked into its surface, four stick arms, and four sticks coming from its back. There was a leather-bound, slightly worn journal at his side, and a crowded, makeshift wooden cage holding at least a dozen small animals made of animate snow was at Marco's side, and he sighed as he watched them jostle around inside. "Sorry, guys…" Marco mumbled, as he opened the cage and deftly stabbed or crushed each one with a tendril before they could escape, causing them to dissolve into piles of normal snow. He removed a little shining, slightly glowing core of ice from each one, no bigger than small marbles. Then, with utmost care, he pulled his soul from his chest and held the handful of icy cores close, causing them to steadily melt and meld together into a single large core. Seemingly satisfied with the new, much bigger ball of ice he held in his hand, he then removed a modest, chocolate-brown portion of soul from his chest. Jean quite clearly understood that it originally belong to Ilse. Marco touched it to the core of ice, which quickly sucked it in and grew significantly in size. Smiling for a brief moment, he then transferred some odd sort of multi-colored energy from his own soul, drastically brightening the glow of the ice core before he carefully placed it into the snowman's chest and packed more snow in over the gap.

"You're Ilse." Marco said to the snowman, as he used a single claw tip to etch a strange circular symbol with a series of intricate, inwardly spiraling dots and lines into its forehead. He then punctured his own fingertip with his tooth, tracing over the circle's outline again with his own pitch black blood. Afterwards, he mixed wisps of Ilse's soul into the blood, causing it to briefly glow a brilliant golden brown. The snowman started to become more detailed by the second. Thin trails of snow slithered across its body and snaked up from the ground beneath it to reassign themselves in a more lifelike fashion. Impossibly small and intricate details held up perfectly, seeming to ignore common sense, even down to strands of hair. Finally, an all-white replica of Ilse stood there, not taking a single breath.

"M-m-mar…co…" It said unsteadily, as its head slowly, shakily looked downwards to meet the young boy's gaze.

"Don't talk much, Ilse. You'll… you'll run out faster if you talk…" Marco said quietly.

"R-run? O-o-out?" Snow-Ilse said in confusion, as it looked itself over. "Ah…" It said blankly, seeming to understand. "W-what is… wrong… Mar…co" It asked without tone or inflection, as it jerkily sat down, looking more like a robot than anything truly alive.

"Come back, Ilse…" Marco asked, his voice a desperate whine. "Please come back and never go anywhere ever again…" Marco begged, warm tears flowing from his murky yellow eyes.

"Not…real soul…not Ilse real… you… know this…" Snow-Ilse struggled to say, the edges of its mouth cracking.

"No, Ilse, no no no!" Marco pleaded, as he smoothed the cracks out with extreme care and propped himself up on his tendrils to breathe more raw energy and emotions into Snow-Ilse's mouth. "Just stay here, okay?!" Marco sobbed.

"I can't…" Snow-Ilse said. "I am dead, Mar…co… Please… understand." it continued.

"No! It's better to be alive, Ilse! I swear! Better! Let's play! Play like we used to! And then, and then you'll have so much fun you'll stay this time! I bet you will, Ilse!" Marco said forcefully, nodding more vigorously than at all necessary. Snow-Ilse silently opened its mouth for a moment in what it probably meant to be a sigh, then slowly rose to its feet as Marco handed it a long stick, and he picked up one of his own. "Sword fight, Ilse! Come on! I bet you can win!" Marco said, his voice high and desperate. Snow-Ilse raised its stick slowly, its stance disheartened and awkward as Marco ran at it, only to very feebly brush and prod at it with the stick, still shrinking back in horror when he still managed to make a small crack in Snow-Ilse's arm regardless. Marco then stood entirely still for a couple of seconds as Ilse belatedly raised the stick up high, only to weakly come down and bap him on the head with no real pain or force whatsoever.

"See, you got me! You're so good at this, Ilse!" Marco said, with a nervous edge to his voice.

Snow-Ilse paused for a short while before speaking again. "Marco… let me write… a story for you-u-u…" Snow-Ilse said, as it flexed an arm and hand, causing the snow in the area to shift and stiffen and become fresher and shinier than before, while the rest of its body cracked all over and became dull, even causing a few small outer pieces to fall off.

"Okay!" Marco said, as he presented a pen and the old leather-bound journal to Snow-Ilse. "I knew there would be a lot you don't remember, so it's lucky I brought your journal, right?" Marco said with nervous pride, even as his whole body shook. Snow-Ilse simply nodded stiffly, slightly cracking its neck in the process. It then took them with its best arm, opened to a blank page, and began to write. It was slow work, and even when it hit its stride and wrote at a mostly normal pace, sometimes Marco would desperately give it more of his soul's energy, or hurriedly provide more scraps and wisps of Ilse's soul, or run off to destroy another snow-creature.

By time it was done, only its writing arm remained fully intact, and it was extremely cracked and dull all over. But still, it shakily petted Marco's head. "R-r-read that… Mmmar… co." Snow-Ilse said, before the area around its mouth, head, and neck became fresher and brighter, causing the rest of its body to dull and crumble even further, and its fingers and spider-legs to fall off. "You are so smart… And talented… And your soul shines eternally like the most beautiful stars… You are my wonderful child... You will be stronger than you have ever thought possible. So please… read my last story… It is for you and you alone. You must be strong a-and wise in these t-times. And you must try your very hardest to be kind, and loving, and considerate to those who are deserving… never like your mother and father… You are too important for such petty things, Marco. Believe me, bec-c-cause… I b-believe… i-i-in yo-u… Marc…o… So please… let th-th-this be the las-s-st time… until… th-then…" Snow-Ilse said, before opening its mouth in another almost sigh, suddenly cracking all over before finally crumbling away. Nothing but powdery snow and a shattered orb of ice remained.

* * *

><p>Without fully realizing what he was doing, Jean immediately hugged Marco tight as the memory ended, tears slowly streaming down his face.<p>

"Jean? What's wrong, Jean?" Marco said worriedly, quickly hugging Jean back.

"I- I saw what you tried to do, Marco… You tried to bring her back." Jean said, causing Marco's eyes to widen and become reddish-orange.

"I-I didn't mean to show you that… You shouldn't have seen that!" Marco hurriedly explained. "I'm s-"

"It's okay, Marco. Don't be sorry." Jean answered. "I'm happy, sorta. …Not the part where she died, but, y'know… There really was somebody who cared about you." Jean said, with a bittersweet smile. "And you deserve to be cared about." Jean concluded.

"…Thanks…" Marco said, smiling wide, his eyes so brightly yellow they were practically twinkling at this point.

"…Why exactly is some of the snow… Y'know, _alive_, in the first place?" Jean asked.

"Chunks of ice get the essence of the winter god frozen inside of them." Marco answered. "Then they absorb the stray scraps of soul from living things… and those form. Almost none of them last longer than a week before they crumble away, though. They're a kind of golem, I guess you could say."

"Jeez, what CAN'T happen in your world?" Jean asked, somewhat sarcastically, but also with actual curiosity.

"Well, not much, overall. But with laws, that's really up to the emperor… And for my area, the king… who is the bogeyman…" Marco mumbled the last part.

"…Wait… so you're like, a PRINCE OF MONSTERS?" Jean cried, now in complete awe and disbelief. But then again, Marco was highly truthful and quite a bad liar, so Jean knew on some level it had to be correct.

"…I guess… But at this point, my parents don't believe in me anymore… Everyone's lost a lot of respect for my family because of me… So I'm not really a rightful heir at all anymore…" Marco explained. "Now they'll just have some new baby… Who will most likely be better than me at literally everyth-"

"Sssshhhh." Jean loudly interrupted.

"But Jean, I-"

"Marco. Marco, shut up. Seriously." Jean said sternly. "You're cool as heck, okay? Like, here I am, some dumb normal kid who likes princesses and My Little Pony and tea parties, but then you're a guy will all these powers and cool stories and stuff!"

"Being normal is probably the best thing that ever could've happened to you." Marco answered simply, sighing deeply. "It really is."

"Well, so what?! Maybe it is! Maybe it isn't! Either way, I'm your friend from now on, I like you, and some of your fricking sour apple Jolly Rancher soul is inside of me, so I'm gonna help you and deal with you!" Jean answered. Perhaps Marco was just a little too impressed with that answer, since his eyes immediately became a sparkling gold as his tendrils wrangled Jean in for an incredibly tight hug, in which Jean wasn't even touching the ground anymore. Jean could only grimace as he briefly struggled to breathe. Marco was already strong before, and while still rather bony, over a week of being well fed had definitely increased his strength.

"You're the best, Jean! The actual best!" Marco gushed.

"I-I don't know how… how g-good I can be if I'm… dead from… choking!…" Jean wheezed, prompting Marco to hurriedly put him down.

"S-sorry." Marco answered, his cheeks darkening heavily as his eyes flushed bright red. "You just… you make me happy…"

* * *

><p>Another week passed, complete with Eren's semi-random visits to bring 'food' and talk about whatever, and Connie and Sasha always giggling over Marco's affectionate nature towards Jean. He did at least get them to stop openly doing it, although he felt a little embarrassed that he basically 'did it' just by telling Marco how he felt. Naturally, the highly protective boy took it from there. Luckily, there was nothing violent or blatantly supernatural about it. But somewhat unluckily, Jean was growing more and more accustomed to Marco's quirks and his high levels of complimenting and affection. Of course he knew that he was definitely fueling all sorts of childish gossip and giggling beyond his earshot, but there was another part of him that was almost too content to care. Almost.<p>

"The lovebirds made it!" Eren cried on a hot Sunday afternoon, as he saw Jean and Marco approaching while he stood with the loosely gathered majority of the other neighborhood kids. Even Mina was present this time, and they were all in the lot where they played sports. On that particular day, the sport was about to be kickball. And it was definitely easy to see why Eren used 'lovebirds'. Marco and Jean were approaching hand-in-hand, which had apparently snuck itself in as a new habit recently. Even though Marco was so excited to play that even a blind man could tell, he was still respectfully keeping with Jean's pace. And Jean had to admit that Marco had rather infectious joy, especially with part of his soul inside of him…. Along with the odd little detail that whenever he held Marco's hand, he was far more sensitive to that fragment of Marco's soul. So Jean couldn't help but want to grin like an idiot, and it created a sort of feedback loop that made holding Marco's hand actually sort of addictive.

"I've seen you holding Armin's hand, you dummy!" Jean shot back.

"That's true…" Armin said, from just behind Eren.

"W-whose side are you on?" Eren cried, turning to Armin.

"Whichever one makes sense, I guess…." Armin replied with slight hesitation, causing Eren to scowl.

"You say stuff like that always…" Eren whined, before turning back to Jean. "Anyway, Jean, it not matters, because yous and Marco are in ~looove~." Eren teased.

"Pfft. Let's just play kickba- Huh?" Jean was interrupted by the sensation of Marco's soul seeming to practically shrivel, shrinking in on itself and shivering madly within Jean. Marco himself had stopped walking, become tense and sweaty, and his grip on Jean's hand became incredibly tight. He was also looking pointedly towards the ground, since his irises and sclera were noticeably flushed with red despite his human disguise. "What's wrong, Marco?" Jean asked.

"They're coming…" Marco mumbled. "Those three…" Marco hissed.

"Huh?" Jean asked, although he did notice that Eren was looking tense as well, balling his fists and looking around with a somewhat dismayed expression, while Armin and Mikasa simply regarded him with the same sort of confusion and concern as Jean himself.

The other kids were beginning to murmur in confusion as well, at least until a sight no one had seen in over two weeks came to their collective attention. Annie, Bertholdt, and Reiner were down at the end of the block, coming from the opposite direction that Jean and Marco had.

"…You know them, Marco?" Jean asked, in a way that seemed to ask a hundred other questions by tone alone.

"…Let's go home, Jean…" Marco said in an imploring tone, with a bit of awhine thrown in for good measure.

"No, it's okay Marco. Annie is… kinda awful… a little bit… probably kinda definitely… but Reiner and Bertholdt are really nice!" Jean insisted, as he approached the rest of the children and waited for the three previously absent children. With great trepidation, and a small sigh, Marco followed. Reiner arrived first, running ahead of the two others, always the most open and friendly out of them all.

"Reiner!" Connie cried excitedly, hustling his way up to the front of the group to meet Reiner directly. "Where you been, dude?!" Connie questioned.

"Oh, it was nothing. Just a sweet vacation trip, no big deal!" Reiner said with a strong, hearty laugh. From what he said, he was definitely one of the more well-to-do children… Yet Jean had never really seen his house. He definitely remembered Christa's house, since it was practically a mansion and all, but nothing about Reiner's place.

"Man, I wish I coulda come!" Connie cried.

"Yeah, Conman, it was the bomb! We went to Italy! I must've ate like a hundred pizzas, man!" Reiner then turned and noticed Eren and Mikasa, and immediately broke out in a toothy grin. "And who are you guys?!" Reiner said, but Jean was distracted from their answers by a rather unexpected reaction from Marco.

"_Liking those fancy English tutors, aren't you Reiner?" _Marco mumbled in his own language, so low Jean almost didn't hear him. Luckily, they were towards the back of the group, so no one else heard Marco at all.

"Dude, what?" Jean asked.

"Nothing." Marco said in a very uneven tone, his voice far too quick and forced.

"Mhmm." Jean muttered disbelievingly, before putting his attention back on the others. Annie arrived, just as cold and strange as always. The sunlight seemed to catch her incredibly smooth, pale skin and her bright blonde hair in such a way that made her sparkle and glow as if she were made of a myriad of tiny diamonds, but not in an especially beautiful or captivating way. More eerie and foreboding than anything. There was a constant tingle of _wrongness _about her, but no one was brave enough to point it out. She hardly ever smiled, and her eyes were large and beautifully blue, but always half-lidded and filled to the brim with some sort of unwelcoming dark sea of tiredness and frustration. Jean had always regarded Annie as very strange, and definitely someone to stay back from. But nonetheless, Armin still gave her a cheery greeting.

"Hi, Annie!" Armin chirped as if he were speaking to a beloved sibling, not the unearthly, eternally scowling girl who was really there. Jean felt a disquieting tingle go down his spine when Annie actually smiled back, and Jean got just a tiny flash of her teeth… Which sparkled just like the rest of her. She'd brusquely described it as 'clear glitter makeup' before, but now Jean wasn't really sure. He never really had been sure.

"_What's wrong, little princess? Too good to be convincing?" _Marco grumbled lowly, a low hiss escaping as he said it.

"Dude, what's up with you?" Jean whispered. Marco just turned to him with a sad smile.

"Don't worry, Cinna-Jean." he said unconvincingly, the joking cheer sounding cheap and flat.

"You aren't making it easy." Jean whispered back, as Bertholdt nervously shuffled onto the scene, sweating and mumbling quietly to himself the whole time. He never was much of a large group kind of person, and he was easily taller than every other child present.

"Hey Bertholdt, meet Eren and Mikasa! You too, Annie! They're cool!" Reiner called out. Annie and Bertholdt seemed to listen more out of convenience than anything else. On the other hand, Armin seemed to be making a point of gently trying to show Eren and Mikasa that Annie wasn't so bad before anyone else could ruin their impressions of her. Jean wasn't sure how successful he actually was. Meanwhile, Bertholdt looked everywhere but the eyes of Eren and Mikasa, as he shakily made his way through introductions and small talk.

"_Oh my, how /becoming/ of you." _Marco whispered bitterly.

"Dude… why are you saying mean stuff all of the sudden?" Jean asked.

"_Because, Jean…" _Marco started with a deep sigh, before being interrupted by Annie, of all people. Apparently, she'd spotted him and managed to break away from the others.

"So _you're _here… How pitiful… You even entrusted part of your soul to a human child…" Annie said lowly in monster language, as she glanced at Jean. She never really did bother to actually speak in a very childlike way, but now it made shivers run down Jean's spine, knowing there was actually a _reason _for all of it now. "Is that really something your family will approve of? Do you really want to be that much of a disgrace?" Annie asked to Marco, whose eyes were becoming dark and clouded, although he blinked a few times to fight it back.

"Mind your own business!" Jean said in a loud whisper, while gritting his teeth.

"Funny. Your natural enemy in front of you all this time… and now you speak up. Do you truly have room to do so, Jean? Surely, Marco has shown you first hand…" Annie started, before flashing Jean one of her fingers, momentarily transformed into a sharp, crystalline sickle. "What happens when you're on our bad side…" Annie explained.

"_**You will not hurt him." **_Marco said in an echoing hiss, simply earning a smirk from Annie.

"Alright." Annie answered flatly, almost dismissively, before walking away.

"…You know what, maybe we should go home…" Jean said, causing Marco to look up at him with a hopeful gasp. But apparently, Jean said it a bit too loudly, and Sasha had wandered just a bit too close, because she answered him.

"Jean, are you and Marco trying to sneak away and be ~alone~?" Sasha teased.

"No, because Annie was being mean and I think she knows Marco from… somewhere… already." Jean answered lowly. He wasn't really lying, his idea of 'somewhere' wasn't really much more specific than he let on.

"…Oh. Well, I get what you mean. Annie's creepy, Bertholdt's nice but weird, and Reiner… tries too hard, if that makes any sense…" Sasha said quietly. "Connie's always all over him, but I really don't get it, honestly…" Sasha mumbled. "I would come but… Connie would probably be mad at me… And Mina is here." Sasha explained. "Just go though, I'll think of something to tell everyone!" Sasha reassured the two boys.

"Thanks, Sash." Jean told her, smiling a bit before leaving the group while everyone else was caught up in their respective conversations, having been thrown off track by the unexpected return of Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie.

* * *

><p>Once they were a short distance away, Jean began to speak again. "…So, why do you hate them?" he asked Marco.<p>

"They're the royal children of other monster families… Our families would always get together for parties and meetings, and they were always mean to me and no one ever stopped them…" Marco explained bitterly, walking at a rapid pace now. "Because of my failure, they have the top three spots… And _eeeveryone _loves them." Marco's emphasis on 'everyone' was an especially disgusted one._ "_Even though, out of everyone, Annie's family deserves one of those spots the least…" When Jean only looked completely bewildered, Marco continued. "She's the daughter of the Sandman… and he's been gathering up territory and kicking people out of their homes to turn it all into nothing but deserts…"

"…Doesn't the Sandman just put you to sleep?" Jean asked.

"Only because he feeds on every emotion, not just fear. Once you're asleep, he uses your dreams and nightmares to get whatever emotions he needs without worrying about you trying to struggle." Marco said. "But still…" he added on abruptly, when it seemed like he was finished. "I know it isn't really a good thing to be jealous of those three…" Marco mumbled, before tensing up again. "Oh no…" he moaned, looking around frantically, causing Jean to mimic him in an attempt to figure out what exactly he was sensing… Only to see Bertholdt quickly walking up from behind them, sweating as much as ever.

"U-uhm… H-hello guys!" Bertholdt said meekly, not bothering with English, although his voice still seemed too small and nasally for his body.

"…Hey, Bertholdt…." Jean said after a somewhat awkward pause, noting that Marco would've happily greeted any other person by now. Jean had never been very close to Bertholdt as it was. Not to mention the fact that he was showing up all alone, and Jean had just learned he wasn't a human. "So, uh…" Jean fidgeted, as Bertholdt stood there awkwardly, seemingly wanting to say something but not actually saying it.

"Uh…uhm, you know, I-I shouldn't really be saying this, b-because my parents would p-probably be f-furious at me about the matter, b-but uhm, I suppose that, what I'm trying to say is, if it's not overstepping my boundaries, or interpreted as an, uhm, offense, or seen as an assault on your honor, integrity, or any other uh, value you hold dear, or an affront to-" Bertholdt rambled on, in such a wordy and ridiculous fashion that Jean wondered how often he actually needed to breathe. His tone stayed rather constant throughout, despite its obvious fear and uncertainty. Marco simply looked at him with equal uncertainty and a sizable amount of curiosity, but Jean was less patient.

"Bertholdt! Calm. The heck. Down!" Jean interrupted, causing the taller boy to quickly clamp his mouth shut and nod vigorously.

"Yes, definitely! Okay, I'll do that as soon as possible, j-just a little nervous and apprehensive on account of how sometimes when I'm nervous I kinda accidentally without honestly meaning to tend to-"Jean quieted the flustered boy once again, with haste.

"Berthoooldt!" Jean whined, causing the taller boy to clamp his mouth shut again.

Bertholdt took a deep breath, then seemed to briefly consider something before speaking again. "I-I'm sorry I uh, wasn't b-brave enough, to…to be nice to you before… "

"…What's this about?" Marco asked warily, with strained politeness in his tone. He protectively slid, literally slid, in front of Jean as he said it. Jean didn't know whether it was the uncharacteristically defensive response or the sliding motion that shouldn't have been physically possible that unnerved him more.

"This is not a trick." Bertholdt answered, but Marco simply frowned.

"_**Do not lie to me. You CAN NOT lie to me." **_Marco spoke in a rough, echoing hiss. Jean found the sudden lack of forgiveness quite jarring.

Bertholdt let out a yelp and took a long yet quick step back, which may or may not have involved his leg literally stretching a bit longer to do so. "O-of course.. I'm sure that's, that's what being the…uh, son of the Bogeyman entails…" Bertholdt muttered sheepishly. "A-anyway, I was wondering, uhm… How exactly did _you…_ make a human friend?" He put an odd emphasis on 'you', although he immediately cringed at his own tone.

"_**Why say it like /that/?" **_Marco snarled, taking a couple of fast steps towards Bertholdt. Jean noticed he'd managed to become a few inches taller than Bertholdt in the process.

"No no no, c-certainly only a mistake on my part! Ahahaha! …Careful, careful! Wouldn't uh, want to let a-anything slip out in direct sunlight, no we wouldn't, right?!" Bertholdt reasoned, as Marco slowly shrank to his usual height.

"So why are you curious about Jean?" Marco asked in a light tone, before dropping right back into the echoing hiss. "_**You are NOT going to hurt him." **_Marco warned.

"It's Annie. Annie and Mina…" Bertholdt timidly explained, while looking everywhere but Marco's eyes. "Annie's assigned to scare Mina, but she's worried she wasn't careful and her feeding is interfering with Mina's brain." Bertholdt explained. "Don't tell Annie I told you but… She got kinda jealous when she uh, saw you guys… I felt it in the soul fragment she shared with me. She's regretting what she's done to Mina, so I figured it'd help if we knew how you managed to get along with Jean so well."

"…Why would I help any of _**you three**_ in a million years?" Marco asked harshly, his teeth sharp and his eyes black, which seemed to completely shut Bertholdt down. His shoulders drooped, and he looked completely dejected. "You're selfish bullies." Marco continued. "Annie only cares about that because she knows we aren't supposed to leave any lasting mental scars, and her parents won't be happy about it." Marco stated matter-of-factly, crossing his arms and turning his head away in the process. "Come on, Jean, let's go home." Marco said, as he turned to face the human boy.

"U-uhm… Okay, Marco." Jean said. Marco met him with a smile like nothing had happened and took his hand in his, before resuming their walk home. Bertholdt just sighed and walked back in the other direction. Although the odd conversation had passed, Marco failed to keep up his cheerful mask for long.

"You hate me now, don't you?" Marco said quietly.

"No, of course not!" Jean answered swiftly, his voice stiff. He was a bit afraid to say anything else, or even imply that he questioned anything Marco did at this point.

"See, exactly! I know why you answered like that! It's because no matter how hard I try… stuff like that happens… and it turns out I'm really nothing but an evil, angry, no-good, feral monster… Just like mom and dad…" Marco mumbled, his eyes beginning to tear up.

"Marco…" Jean said with a frown. "Marco, it's okay. You don't have to like everyone. You're not terrible just because someone makes you mad, okay?" Jean said. "If you ask me, they probably already gave you reasons to beat them up…" Jean said with a smile. "N-not that you should just go beat them up right now, but… It's okay to be mad and stuff sometimes! My mom says you gotta be honest with yourself!" Jean explained.

"Like how you're honest enough to have a dress in your closet?" Marco asked. Jean immediately blanched. Of COURSE Marco had seen the blue, frilly thing that Jean had stuffed as far back in his closet as the closet allowed. Of COURSE.

"I DON'T-" Remembering that this was Marco he was speaking to, Jean became quieter and more hesitant. "…W-well, so what if I do? My dad got it for me. He said I should express myself however I want. Or something dumb like that. And I definitely didn't ask for it so I could wear it while I have dumb pretend tea parties…" Jean mumbled.

"You should wear it again some time, it'd look nice!" Marco said sincerely.

"I can't…" Jean mumbled, puffing his cheeks out. "Even just by myself"

"Why not?" Marco asked.

"Becaaaause!" Jean whined, puffing his cheeks out more.

"…Why?" Marco repeated.

"Because…" Jean said. "My mom says I 'outgrew' it, but I know that's just mom-talk for when I…get too fat for stuff…"Jean explained, his face a deep red. The sudden burst of laughter from Marco didn't help. "Shut up!" Jean snapped.

"I don't get why it's bad to be fat. Or be a boy who likes dresses and tea parties and ponies." Marco said sincerely. "But I guess it means that you get what it's like to not be like everyone else, huh Jean?" Marco added on positively, beaming at his human friend.

"Yeah, I guess…" Jean agreed with a sigh.

"So I promise, you'll always be my favorite!" Marco said.

"Thanks, Marco." Jean replied. He didn't really know what else to say to Marco that wasn't either a lie or entirely unnecessary, so he just said it again. "Thanks."


	7. Chapter 7

**Ch 7**

With June over and the first few days of July already burnt straight through, it'd gotten all the way past three weeks since Jean and Marco met one another. The secret was still perfectly safe, the boys got along well, and Jean found that it really wasn't all that hard to adjust to the new things in his life. But that wasn't to say that things were perfect by any means. After all, there was a new development that got on Jean's nerves much more often than he would've liked.

"Hi, Marco!" Eren said cheerily on one cloudy, gloomy morning. He practically glided right on in through the closet doorway with almost no warning at all, with a massive shark toothed grin. Jean just made a face at him. He wasn't in human form, and Jean still fully and honestly held the opinion that Eren was one ugly son of a bitch without it.

Eren. Eren was the new development. He and Marco had rapidly become good friends, and now he'd started visiting almost all the time. What was even worse was that Eren didn't have any curfew or hard limits to his visits, what with the appalling amounts of freedom that monster children seemed to have.

While Marco seemed delighted to see him, even getting up to hug him, Jean wasn't so thrilled. While he and Marco were like peaches and cream, he and Eren were like oil and water. Have an idea? Eren suggests something else. Want a certain exclusive thing or position? So does Eren. Pretty much any physical activity? Eren's better at it. Have an opinion? Eren's is different, and he'll make sure you know it. Out of all the things that were strange and infuriating about Eren, there were really only two upsides. One was that he made Marco happy. Jean simply couldn't deny that no matter how frustrating things got for him, there was something very satisfying about seeing a smile on Marco's face. He deserved to be smiling, honestly. He'd probably been through more than Jean hoped he'd have to deal with in an entire lifetime.

And reason two was Mikasa, who exited the closet right after Eren, clad in her ever-present red scarf, a black t-shirt, a pair of denim overalls, and dark red rain boots. Jean thought it was a little unusual, since it hadn't even started raining yet, but her face and hair were as pleasing as ever. Even Armin showed up, clutching her wrist tightly, which surprised Jean to some extent. Armin usually didn't come along, and it showed.

"What a strange feeling…" Armin muttered with his nose crinkled, his sneakers oddly muddy, and his brow covered in sweat. But after a moment, Armin perked up and smiled. "Hi, Jean. Hi, Marco." he said pleasantly.

"It's gonna rain a lot soon, you guys!" Eren said excitedly, as he ran up onto Jean's bed and plastered himself to the window. The thick clouds outside were more than enough to protect his skin from direct sunlight.

"Yeah, real exciting, fishboy…" Jean mumbled.

"Someone's just afraid they'll lose the mud fight." Eren said with a wide smirk full of sharp teeth. While Marco's smile seemed much too long, and always seemed to be stretched across his entire face like rubber, Eren's smile seemed too tall and wide. His teeth were much longer and pointier than they had any right to be, and his mouth seemed to take up too much of his face when he did it.

"We can't just go outside and play with mud! Mikasa will get dirty!" Jean cried.

"…And?" Mikasa asked somewhat flatly, apparently not understanding what the problem was. "Dirt isn't wrong, Jean." Mikasa informed him. Jean wanted to respond, but Eren spoke up before he could think of a good way to backpedal.

"Or… do you want a more exciting mud fight instead?" Eren asked, his smirk growing much wider than before, if such a thing were even possible.

"Eren, no!" Marco cried, while shaking his head vigorously. "It's dangerous over there!" The words 'over there' suddenly made it much more obvious what Eren meant, and Jean nearly gasped as he thought of the prospect of actually seeing what the other world was like for himself.

"It'll be fine! Mikasa's been living with me just fine, and Armin's already been in it a few times!" Eren said. Marco's eyes widened in surprise, and transitioned to a bright orange.

"Eren! This is serious! What if something goes wrong?!" Marco cried. "Come to think of it, why do you have a human living with you anyway?!" Marco asked with surprising force, causing Eren and Mikasa to momentarily flinch.

"…That's a long one." Eren said simply.

"…Spirited away..." Mikasa quietly answered.

"What?" Jean asked, now becoming increasingly curious.

"Mikasa, you don't have to-" Eren started, but Mikasa continued anyway.

"Two years ago… my real parents took me camping." Mikasa said very quietly. "Something… Something came… Something took them." Mikasa said. "From the forest… It hid in the ground… it looked like it was made of moss and grubs…" Mikasa almost whispered. "It ate them. Swallowed them up… like it was hugging them." Mikasa explained, as her gaze became hard and her fists clenched. Jean could swear he saw a silvery, sparkling aura leaving her eyes for just a brief moment, but it could've been a trick of the light.

"My dad is a doctor…" Eren continued, seeing that it was too late to change the subject. "So we ended up there because that was his patient… or at least, it was supposed to be…" Eren said. "You know those wasps that lay their eggs in caterpillars, then their babies eat it from the inside out?" Eren asked.

"What does that have to do with anything?!" Jean asked, even more frustrated by how he was apparently the only one who was missing something. Armin had a solemn expression, while Marco's eyes had gone bright orange, with a blank, mortified look to them. His mouth was slightly hanging open, and it seemed he was speechless.

"That's what was wrong, you idiot! A wasp lays eggs in you, they hatch and start eating you from the inside out!" Eren shouted, his tone deathly serious. "Only for this kind, that's not all they do. They make you their puppet. That, and they make you hungry. Really hungry, to make sure they get enough food. So, because of that…"

Jean had heard enough. "Shut up! You're lying! There's nothing like that! There's no wasp that makes people into grub puppets! That's too messed up!" Jean cried, putting his hands over his ears.

"Do you want to see?" Eren said, as he began to inhale in a deep, very familiar fashion.

"No!" Jean immediately blurted out. "No, I don't want to see!"

"Okay." Eren said simply, as he calmly exhaled. Jean was honestly expecting more convincing, or cajoling, or calling him a coward for not wanting to, but all he got was 'okay'. "Anyway, do you still want to go in?" Eren asked, motioning to the closet with one of his tentacles.

"You just told me about people being turned into grub puppets, what the heck do you think?!" Jean cried.

"Yeah but… you might see a unicorn." Eren said with a too-wide grin. The change in Jean's demeanor was almost instantaneous.

"A unicorn?! A-a whole entire real live actual for real unicorn?!" Jean gushed, with his eyes practically getting wider by the second.

"There's a lot of fog and clouds and stuff around where we live, so yeah. Unicorns like places where they can feel hidden." Eren said.

"Eren, don't make him-" Marco started, but it was too late.

"I wanna see one! Show me a unicorn! Show me show me show me!" Jean squealed, now practically bouncing in place. "Marco, there's really unicorns in there, right?!" Jean breathlessly asked the green-skinned boy, who just sighed for a moment before answering.

"Well, he isn't lying, but still…" Marco started, only to realize that Jean had already stopped listening and started making his way towards his closet door.

"Uh, Jean… just how much DO you like horses, anyway?" Armin asked.

"Don't question me, Armin, these are UNICORNS we're talking about. Plus, we all know you talk to your goldfish like they're people, so shut up." Jean said.

"He does?" Marco asked , giggling to himself as he did so.

"I think Reginald, Goldeen, and Leviathan all enjoy the stimulation!" Armin said defensively, although he was now noticeably blushing. "…Why did I just mention their names…" Armin muttered to himself.

"Armin, you're like as smart as Jimmy Neutron! You /know/ goldfish can't understand you!" Jean pointed out, resisting the urge to groan when Armin actually gasped at his words.

"I-It's the thought that counts!" Armin meekly shot back.

"Let's just do this already!" Eren shouted in a surprisingly commanding tone, causing Jean and Armin to immediately fall silent. "Do you at least know how to get in, horse-for-brains?" Eren asked Jean, who only shook his head. "Well isn't that just great." Eren grumbled, although Mikasa cast him a withering glance and decided to take a more patient course of action with Jean.

"It isn't hard." Mikasa explained. "Eventual, you can do it without even trying, but for right now, hold hand out in front of you… Palm forward, finger spread." Mikasa instructed. In one quick, jerky motion, Jean did what he was told with a wide, strained smile and hopeful eyes. "Okay." Mikasa said flatly, either unaware of or simply disregarding how anxious Jean was to please her. "Now, see this?" Mikasa asked, as she extended her own hand just like she had told Jean to do, and a strange, silver, perfectly spherical aura surrounded her palm, full of a dust like tiny diamonds. It was so deeply bewitching to watch the dust swirl and dance between her fingers that he almost didn't hear her say "Do the same.".

"…Uh…w-what? Okay, I can, I mean, it's not like I can't, I just…" Jean started, with sweat beading on his brow. He really didn't want to look like a huge idiot when Mikasa was being so amazing and wonderful and teaching him things.

"Just do it." Mikasa told him.

"But that's- I don't think it's… It just seems im-" Jean started, but Mikasa's gaze suddenly hardened, to the point where Jean couldn't help but flinch.

"_Nothing_ is impossible." Mikasa told him sternly, before her voice became softer and less severe. "Copy me. You won't if you won't. Copy me."

"Mikasa, shouldn't you at least-" Eren started, but Mikasa simply shook her head.

Jean felt like this would usually be where Marco would interject and offer his assistance, but oddly enough, Marco was only watching him expectantly, his eyes a curious yellowish-orange. Highly confused and not knowing what else to do, Jean allowed himself to stare back into the beautiful swirls of silver and thin ribbons of steely blue around Mikasa's outstretched hand, letting his eyes draw in every detail, every splendid little fleck and shimmer… Until eventually, he felt a strange, prickling warmth in his eyes, which soon spread through his entire face, and then his entire body. Something very similar to the aura he was observing was flowing through his body. If he were aware of more than the aura around Mikasa's hand or the sudden feeling of something very warm rapidly flowing through his body, he'd notice that everyone was looking at him now.

"His eyes!" Eren whispered to Mikasa. "Look at how his soul is pouring out!"

"Quiet. He can't know until he's done." Mikasa said.

But Jean hardly even heard them. All he really knew was that his vision had suddenly taken on a golden brown tint, and colors seemed to bleed and blur over the edges of objects. Tiny, scattered sparkles of light brown, gold, and red seemed to float about, placing everything under a glaze of cinnamon and sunbeams. Yet he didn't ask questions. This seemed right, somehow. Beautiful. Absolutely perfect. He looked at his own outstretched arm, able to see rich streams of glittering cinnamon rushing through each and every vein, the familiar yet novel aura encompassing every cell. He was growing even warmer now. Sweat was leaking down his face, and little bursts of prickling heat were all over his body now. As he stared at the aura around Mikasa's hand again, he could only think of how much he wanted to touch it. He wanted to feel it for himself. But part of him, something sleeping deep inside of him knew better. He knew he couldn't touch it with his own hands. It was something more than that. But Jean was a stubborn child. He knew he had to touch it, one way or another. He had to, or else the urge would ceaselessly eat away at him. So before he even fully knew what he was doing, a great plume of intense golden brown aura exploded from his outstretched right hand.

With movements swifter and more nimble and elegant than even the most graceful dancers, a snaking trail of glimmering cinnamon sunbeams met and engulfed Mikasa's miniature storm of diamonds. And before Jean could even revel in its sheer glory, there was a horrendous burning sensation in his outstretched hand, like he'd thrust it straight into an open flame. All too quickly, he was snapped out of his daze. Once again, colors shifted back into normalcy, and nothing had any tint of golden brown or sparkling wonder to it. All Jean could see was his burning, trembling hand, emitting thrashing, ethereal tendrils of an aura like sparkling, blazing cinnamon and gold.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME?!" Jean screeched, as Marco immediately rushed to his side and gently hugged him, while Mikasa simply lowered her hand. Jean really wished Marco would grab his aching, searing hand, but for whatever reason, that wasn't happening.

"You shifted your soul, that's what happened." Eren said.

"WHAT?! WHAT?! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! WHAT DID YOU MAKE ME DO?!" Jean howled, with tears starting to come to his eyes as he flailed his arm about, the aura steadily pouring and rolling off of it like a fanciful yet surprisingly fearsome cross between smoke and fire, with the wisps coiling into unruly tendrils before fading. "MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!" Jean screamed.

"Shhh." Marco said quietly. "It'll be okay, Jean. Your soul is a very strong thing. You just have to get used to it." Marco told the panicking boy. "If I make it better for you, you won't be able to."

"FORGET THAT, IT'S GOING TO KILL ME!" Jean screeched. "CAN'T YOU EAT IT OR SOMETHING?!"

"It's _you, _Jean. That's your soul. There's nothing to worry about. You've been with it all your life." Marco said gently. "Normally, it isn't something you can touch. It exists in-between. But now that you brought it here, you can see it and use it." Jean was floored by how calm someone else could be while they watched his own hand get burned away by cinnamon Satan.

"STOP!" Jean screamed at his right hand, not the slightest bit concerned about looking silly. "STOP HURTING RIGHT NOW!" Jean yelled. Surprisingly enough, the aura weakened, and it's thrashing, roiling, and billowing slowed until it seemed like nothing more than a weak, dreamlike smoke, slowly wafting off of Jean's skin. His hand was entirely unharmed, and it already felt like it was simply in very warm water. Jean simply stared at his hand for a moment; stared at the warm, beautiful wisps of shining color, before clenching his fist and speaking again. "NONE OF YOU TOLD ME IT'D HURT LIKE THAT!" Jean shouted.

"That's how it goes." Mikasa said to Jean simply. "I did it on mistake, two year ago. But I shifted my entire soul. My body felt like it was cut into million piece. I thought I would die." Mikasa explained.

"I get it! You're probably just saying all this as, I dunno, some kind of dumb message about how I can't go see unicorns because this is way too awful and dangerous for me to handle or something! Is it because I'm fat?! It's because I'm fat, isn't it?!" Jean cried, pointing an accusing finger at Mikasa, although he unconsciously used his right hand, and the action caused his soul to start emanating somewhat more intensely again. More alarmingly, it was also burning again, so he lowered it as fast as possible.

"…You think I… lie about those things?" Mikasa said lowly. The loose ends of her scarf suddenly started to float around despite the complete lack of wind in the room, and Jean could see a subtle flash of an intricate network of glowing silver threads woven into it. A blast of beautiful diamond dust aura emanated from her body like a spiraling gale. Eren quickly moved across the room to get away. Jean _knew_that ominously floating not-magic scarves were not good things, and the beauty was especially cut short when Jean noticed that the flecks of dust had linked together into tiny, bladelike strands of light, leaving tiny nicks and cuts on everything in Mikasa's vicinity.

"N-no! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that, honest!" Jean cried. This answer seemed to appease Mikasa, since she steadily calmed down.

"Anyway. Put that hand in the closet, we've wasted time too much." Mikasa instructed. Jean obeyed, and he was very surprised when he actually felt a pulling, tingling sensation all around his hand, as if the darkness were trying to slowly slurp him up. "Imagine a line of light coming from your hand. Straight line. That's for the following." Mikasa said. Jean did as he was told, and was even more surprised when everything in his closet seemed to fade away, becoming nothing but perfect darkness. There was only a thin line of glowing golden brown piercing far, far through it, as far as he could see. "Now bunch your soul up tight, deep inside chest. Imagine it getting tight and small, as small as you can. Imagine it in tiny box." Mikasa instructed further. Jean obeyed to the best of his ability, almost immediately sensing the flow of energy through his body and hoarding it into his chest. "Now go in, and your instincts do the rest. Remember line. Focus on line. Keep soul in box. Don't want to wander." Mikasa said sternly.

The sucking, tingling sensation engulfed Jean's entire body as he slowly walked forward into the darkness, met with a sharp, sour odor and what seemed like endless, omnidirectional nothingness. He almost felt like he was floating, yet on solid ground as he cautiously stepped forward, simply following the straight line and trying to ignore the nausea that was initiating a heavy, unforgiving grip on his stomach. After a moment, Jean saw a thick streak of lime green, which joined up with his feeble line of light very steadily and deliberately, running almost parallel to his line for a while until it finally touched… Although Jean still felt a sudden shock and a burning sensation when it did finally touch, only to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw Marco now walking beside him. It struck him as odd that it was so dark yet he could see Marco clearly, but he didn't really want to question it. He didn't even question how quickly he found his free hand clasped with Marco's. In fact, it was a very welcome change of pace, since it minimized the "floating" sensation and brought some much needed comfort and stability to the experience.

"You're doing really good, Jean!" Marco said reassuringly, even somewhat proudly. "I think Mikasa's way of teaching you was kind of mean though…" Marco said.

"You didn't say anything either!" Jean said sharply.

"She was right. If you knew it hurts, it'd take you much longer to learn. Your mind has to be completely open. You can't doubt yourself, and you can't doubt your instincts. If you went a few years longer without meeting us, it'd probably take you weeks to figure it out. But that only took a few minutes! So that means that you're really, really smart, Jean!" Marco said happily, pouncing on Jean… Who definitely didn't appreciate such a thing in the middle of what seemed to be a dark, eternal abyss

"You're gonna make us fall, you idiot!" Jean cried.

"And where would we land, exactly?" Marco responded, completely nonplussed.

"Shouldn't YOU know that?" Jean cried.

"Exactly. There's nowhere to fall to, Jean. We aren't anywhere right now. We almost don't exist. That's why you have to keep your soul bundled up tight." Marco explained. "Don't worry, I've got you." Marco added on after a moment of thought, giving Jean a gentle smile.

"What do you mean, we aren't anywhere?!" Jean cried.

"This is what lies between. Between everything. It leads everywhere and nowhere, all at the same time. Your soul is the only reason you're going anywhere. If you stop following that line, you could get lost forever." Marco said.

"That's comforting." Jean grumbled lowly.

"Is your sass normal for seven year old humans?" Marco tried to ask innocently, although the small smirk on his face gave him away.

"Excuse me?!" Jean cried.

"Okay, definitely above average." Marco said with a giggle.

"So if we aren't really going anywhere anyway, what difference does it make? Shouldn't we be there alre-" Jean was interrupted by a rush of light and colors, as darkness was chased away by slight fog, muddy ground, and a damp, pervasive, musky odor all around them. Jean immediately started to slip and loose footing in what was now very slick and soggy earth, but Marco stopped him before he could.

"Wow! You even figured that out really fast!" Marco said.

"Huh?" Jean asked. "What, all I said was that we should be there already! I'm still confused! " Jean cried.

"Distance only mean what you think it means in there. If you thought it'd take a year, it would. If you thought it'd take a second, it would. It's all up to you." Marco explained.

"…Whatever…" Jean said blankly. If he was here already, then there was no use thinking too hard about the insane logic of some place that wasn't Earth. "Anyway, now that that whole drawn out trainwreck is over…" Jean began, looking around for the others.

"Oh, you made good time!" Eren said from directly behind Jean, clearly startling the poor child. Mikasa and Armin came from just a little ways off, previously obscured by a stand of thick, knobby shrubs and fat, stout coniferous trees. Both had strange, bluish-black bark, a color reminiscent of a very dark bruise. "So you figured out the trick to that place? ...Don't go thinking you're really something now…" Eren mumbled.

"I wasn't! I hardly know what's going on myself, jeez!" Jean countered. "And you're the one who wanted to come here for some stupid mud fight! I mean, what the heck is this?! What kind of unicorn would live here?!" Jean asked in bewilderment. Given what he already knew about such things, he had a point. The earth was a rich, slightly shiny black, and incredibly soft, sinking slightly beneath his weight. The air was warm, humid, and sticky, with only slight breeze. It was mostly cloudy, with only a peek of orange sunlight, and the fog lowered the overall visibility even further. There were countless puddles and pools of murky water, and there was long, tufty, unruly grass all around. However, each blade was deep jade in color, with tips of illustrious, shimmering cyan. It reached two or three feet high in some places. Further out, dozens of yards away, the grass grew even higher, partially submerged in a wide pond of deep, still water. Further still, where the water was deepest and grass stopped growing, a plethora of lily pads in a wide variety of sizes floated about. However, Jean quickly noticed that many of them didn't drift with the wind or currents, and occasionally they would suddenly dart to a new location at high speeds.

"You'd be surprised." Eren said simply. "They like the fog and clouds around here. They're really shy." Just as Eren finished that sentence, there was an almighty whinnying, screeching noise as something came crashing and tearing through the trees and undergrowth. A sparkling white horse with a single long, spiraling horn messily tumbled to the ground just as it emerged from the trees. It was writhing and shrieking in agony, covered in a dense tangle of thorny vines from head to hoof.

The children collectively let out gasps and noises of shock and horror as the equine wonder continued to kick and struggle in the long, thick vines, its pupils wider than silver dollars.

"We have to go help!" Jean cried, his voice already cracking with tears.

"I don't know…" Eren said warily.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW?! YOU CAN'T JUST LET IT DIE!" Jean cried, as he turned and started running towards the unicorn.

"Jean, wait!" Eren cried, but it was no use. Marco was already following Jean, and Armin cast them a longing expression, before looking again to the horse, apparently in agonizing, hopeless pain.

"Eren, this isn't like you…" Armin said, regarding his friend carefully.

"I don't trust that thing." Eren said bluntly, balling his fists as his eyes became a stormy greyish blue. "No vine that grows around here can hold a unicorn like that. They can shift their souls. Not just any dumb, weak animal can do that."

Jean and Marco had already reached the creature, with Marco holding it down and shearing vines apart with his teeth and tendrils, while Jean desperately attempted to calm it down from a safe distance, with tears streaming down his face.

"But I think it could be sick!" Armin protested, as the unicorn coughed up copious amounts of shimmering blood and mucus, still making an awful racket as it did so.

"But not too many things make a unicorn sick like that! My dad says that their blood, hooves, and horns, are a powerful healing-" Eren was cut off by a piercing, doleful whinny from the unicorn, which had just landed a good kick with its hind hoof in Marco's side.

"We have to help it, Eren!" Armin insisted, already beginning to approach the unicorn. "You can't just assume something like that!"

"…I guess you're right…" Eren said, as he quickly caught up with Armin.

"I can help cut vines." Mikasa added, having almost immediately started moving along with Eren.

Once Mikasa got there, cutting the vines seemed to go much faster. That same silvery, dusty aura Jean had seen in his room poured from her hand like ethereal smoke, then froze into a blade that seemed like solid moonlight. The vines were no match for it, cut through with ease despite looking far more substantial than the blade.

…Although perhaps if the children hadn't been so invested in the unicorn's well-being, they would've noticed that the vines were subtly shrinking and weakening, and the unicorn was becoming awfully calm and trusting for a creature so close to powerful teeth and sharp objects.

The unicorn shot bolt upright as soon as the job was done, making noises of pleasure and contentment now that it was free from the thorny vines. And then, surprising everyone, it playfully nudged at each of them before lowering itself down so they could climb its back.

"Wooaaaahhhh!" Jean cried, immediately scrambling onto the equine's back with a surprising burst of agility.

Apparently won over by the happy shift in mood, Eren gladly extended his tentacles to help Armin on next, then Mikasa. Without a single complaint, the unicorn got up and happily trotted about at a modest pace on the moist, muddy soil, often stopping to allow Eren and Marco to pet it.

"I'm really sorry I didn't trust you…" Eren quietly said to the unicorn, but just then, its entire demeanor changed. With a low, deliberate snort, its entire body became extremely sticky and viscous, emitting a hideous greenish-brown slime with the scent of rotting meat and vegetation. Its eyes became sunken black pits as the children started to scream and cry out in alarm.

"FORGET THAT! YOU'RE A KELPIE!" Eren screeched, as he attempted to kick and claw at the fetid beast, only to get even more stuck in the process.

"Kelpie?!" Jean cried in confusion as he frantically tried to pull his hands off of the creature. His eyes were watering again, but this time because of the horrible scent rather than concern or sympathy.

"I KNEW there was something bad about this horse! I knew it! It's gonna take us to the water and drown us! …Well, you guys, anyway. I have gills. BUT IT'S STILL GONNA EAT ME!" Eren screeched, desperately trying to tear himself away from the disgusting predator.

"What do we do?!" Armin cried, as the creature started lurching towards the water, completely uninhibited by the weight of five children. The only thing that slowed it at all was Eren's feet desperately dragging and scraping against the mud, along with Marco's feet and tendrils.

"Eren! Get in it's shadow!" Mikasa commanded. She was surrounded by silvery aura now, but the floating blades of light she created were nearly useless, their force harmlessly absorbed by the kelpie's thick, disgusting glue no matter how fast she tried to drive them in.

"I'm too stuck! I can't get away!" Eren said. "I should've gnawed my hand off!"

Jean and Armin looked down at him incredulously, as the kelpie neared the deep, murky swamp water.

"It'd grow back." Eren said offhandedly. "It's not important anyway! Think of how the heck we're supposed to live!" Eren shouted.

"If we get through this muck… cut straight in the head…" Mikasa suggested, before looking down at Marco. "You think you can?" she asked.

"I need my tendrils just to slow it down even this much! They'd just get stuck anyway!" Marco cried, thrusting his tendrils and feet deeper into the mud than ever to try and stop the kelpie from entering the water. Mikasa just stared at him for a moment, then nodded gravely. "If you won't, you won't…" she said lowly, sweat beading on her brow from both the exhaustion of manifesting blades and the fear of impending death. "But, Marco…" she started, before pausing to think for a second. The kelpie was just about to enter the water now. "Jean will die much sooner than you. He's only a human. He'll die fast. He'll watch Armin and I die. And you, Marco. You are the son of the bogeyman. You'll be tougher. You'll watch us die. And you'll spend your last moments…" Mikasa hesitated. She didn't really want to be harsh, but then again, she was in no mood for her, her friends, or her dear brother to die. On top of that, her little speech had scared the others, and now they were screaming and panicking more than ever. (Although Eren mostly just sounded like he were ready to kill someone). "…Proving you were worth abandoning!" Mikasa shouted over them, just as Jean was struggling to keep his head above water.

The reaction was just what she'd hoped, and then some. Marco's eyes became even darker and more sinister than the kelpie's as he assumed his completely natural form. The kelpie let out a grunt of surprise as it jerked forward but found itself unable to move any deeper into the water. Marco took a step backwards and sunk his foot deep into the ground, growling murderously. "_**STOP.**_" came his voice, a low, gravelly echo that seemed to come from every direction. The kelpie's head rapidly whipped around in a sudden panic, and it tensed even tighter, then lurched forward with all of its might, threatening to pull everyone into the water. But Marco let out a deeper growl than ever, making the blood of every animal in the area run ice cold. Even the lily pads on the water seemed to suddenly lock in place. The back of Mikasa's neck tingled, and she swore she even saw some of the grass curl in on itself. Maybe this idea was a little too good.

"_**I SAID **__**STOP, **__**YOU /DISGUSTING/ MOTHERFUCKER!" **_came the cacophonous, demonic, earsplitting roar, spreading for miles throughout the swamp and trees. Animals fled in desperate droves, birds crashing into one another in their attempt to get away. The lily pads huddled together in the farthest corner of the water they could. The kelpie screeched in terror, desperately trying to detach itself from Marco like he were a bomb about to go off. That probably wasn't too far from the truth. Like it were simply a kitten, Marco used his tendrils to hoist the kelpie high above his head in one swift, fluid motion. The horrendous noise was so much that Armin and Jean had simply passed out.

"_W-what?! Marco?!"_ Mikasa thought to herself. She was finding herself far more afraid of _this_ than whatever the kelpie would've done. Marco pulled a tendril back like an arm preparing a punch, with his eyes full of pure, black, heavy hatred, then thrust it forward so fast it briefly became invisible and broke the sound barrier with an almighty crack. In the next moment, it'd gone straight up through the kelpie's head, sticking out of the top of its skull. In the moment after that, it stretched up further and kept going, wrapping around the head a couple of times before crushing it like an egg and ripping it away from the rest of the body as easily as the tag off of a mattress. It was accompanied only by one last garbled shriek of agony from the kelpie, as the rest of the area was dead silent.

The kelpie's blood poured from its neck and splattered thickly on the ground, now a grotesque dark red rather than the sparkling disguised substance from before. Marco caught a glimpse of Jean as it did so, limply glued to the kelpie's corpse. That seemed to flip the switch back to normal.

"…Jean!" Marco cried, his eyes fading back to yellow as he gingerly lowered the kelpie's corpse to the ground. The slime was becoming thin and watery now that the hideous creature was dead, allowing Eren and Mikasa to easily pull themselves and Armin away as Marco pulled Jean away.

Luckily, Jean and Armin woke up in short order.

"Ahhh...W-what the heck happened?" Jean asked, perking up as he looked at his surroundings. "That thing is dead now?! Marco, what's all that stuff on your tentacle thingies?!"

"T-those're great questions." Armin added weakly.

"_Maybe _I made Marco just a _tiny _bit upset because I thought it'd help us and-" Mikasa started, fidgeting with her hands.

"He smashed that thing's head like a tin can! You should've seen it!" Eren said excitedly, his fists shaking up and down.

"I _told_ you this place is dangerous!" Marco snapped.

"Okay but get this. _I _was the one who said to leave the unicorn alone." Eren added, earning a bitter snarl from Jean when the human boy realized Eren was right about that. "We'd be fine if we just left it alone. It's not my fault Horseface McHorselove here wanted to be a stupid hero." Eren said the nickname itself in English.

"…Horseface McHorselove?!" Jean cried.

"Don't worry too much though. Now we've got food!" Eren said, entirely ignoring Jean's protest save for a cheeky, offhanded smirk. Jean and Armin blanched.

"That thing tried to kill us and you want to-" Armin started, but Eren had already dug his face into the creature's side, tearing away a bloody, stringy chunk of flesh.

"It'd be a shame to just leave it here! The slime was awful but the meat is great! It's like beef and fish had a wet, salty baby. A really, really good wet, salty baby." Eren explained in a slightly muffled voice, before swallowing the chunk of flesh whole.

"Pass me some." Mikasa said sincerely, completely catching Jean off guard. Armin was only slightly more guarded.

"Random raw meat from ugly mutant horse monsters can't be good for you!" Jean cried, but Mikasa had already accepted a hunk of it from Eren.

"I am strong. Stronger than you. Extremely strong." Mikasa said flatly, in a way that left Jean unable to decide if he was being mocked, blown off, or simply joked around with, as she bit down gracelessly on the hunk of meat. She briefly closed her eyes and gave a small hum of approval as she cut more flesh away from the creature with an ethereal blade of her soul, then handed it to Marco. "I'm sorry I made you angry." she said, the flatness in her tone completely replaced with genuine remorse.

"It's fine. After all, we aren't eaten. Being not eaten is a pretty great trade for a little anger, don't you think?" Marco asked lightheartedly, as he accepted the meat from Mikasa.

"How the heck do you do that thing with the glowy cutty thingies anyway?" Jean asked Mikasa, trying to get over how unnerved he was by three of his friends casually eating something that was intending to eat them a few moments ago.

"…You don't want to do it." Mikasa said sternly, looking straight at him. "Your soul needs no changing. It'll have talent. Not like this." Mikasa said.

"…But that's really cool. Why wouldn't I?" Jean asked.

"My soul got like this to cut up flesh." Mikasa said, as she glared at Jean with an incredibly strong grey-eyed gaze. "This… special soul. A soul you only get when you're so angry it drive you crazy and fill your vein with lightning. A killer's soul." Mikasa explained, as her gaze softened and she looked toward the ground.

"Yeah well… I stepped on an ant the other day." Jean said with a wry smile, trying to lighten the conversation up.

Although Mikasa looked like she wanted to be mad, she just ended up with a small smile on her face.

There was the sound of Mikasa's poorly restrained laughter, then a simple, amused "You're so stupid…".

Jean was very conflicted about the reaction. On one hand, Mikasa seemed to be insulting him. On the other hand, he /did/ make her laugh… Crushes were so confusing. Especially when they still existed after you watch your crush eat a chunk of raw meat directly from a fresh corpse. The stupid floaty soul blades of not-magic were so amazing and beautiful they sort of won her some points back. God dangit, Jean! Don't you know this is dangerous (and really weird) territory?

"_Yeah well, so is everything else."_ A small voice indignantly argued from the back of his mind. And as he thought about it, and looked around at everything, he realized it was right.

He looked at Marco, chewing on fresh, dark red meat as he rinsed his tendrils off in the water.

Absolutely right.


	8. Chapter 8

**Ch 8**

After the run-in with the kelpie; Jean was wet, sticky, grumpy, and getting increasingly worried.

"What about the normal world? Won't people know I'm gone? Don't tell me it'll be some kind of thing where I was gone for days in real world time or something…" Jean asked.

"What do you mean _normal_ and _real _world?" Eren asked. "Not everything is about you, you know. You'd already be dead if it weren't for us."

"I wouldn't even BE here if it weren't for you!" Jean argued.

"Yeah, now you're getting it!" Eren answered, seemingly pleased.

"That's not what I meant!" Jean countered with a scowl. "Just answer the question!"

"…No." Eren unhelpfully responded, before sticking out his long, pointed, bluish-black tongue at Jean.

"It's okay. Time passes the same over here." Marco explained.

"THANK YOU." Jean responded with great relief.

"We could always just wipe your parents' memory of it anyway." Eren said. "…Besides, right now, your parents just think you're napping and shouldn't be bothered. You're welcome." Eren added on. "As long as you don't come back super beat up or stay here for days or something, it'll hold up. Memories that make big impacts are tough… It's kinda like pulling gum out of hair, I guess."

"Oh, okay… But listen here! Marco said this world is nothing but something you guys made! So Earth really is… more normaler than this!" Jean cried, not wanting to let go of a chance to be right about something during an argument with Eren.

"That's alright." Eren said with a dismissively confident smirk, completely denying Jean of any truly satisfying reaction. "My dad says we'll have it back some day. He says you can't keep it from us forever. We'll get it back, and-"

"Okay, but why don't you have it anymore in the first place? Why go through all this trouble? No one's explained that part to me." Jean asked.

"Don't you know? Why do you think all we eat is your fear?" Eren asked.

"…I don't know what kinda answer you're expecting." Jean answered impatiently.

"It's one of the safest emotions. Fear means we have power. Fear by itself means not fighting back. Fear is easiest for us to handle." Eren said.

"Uh…" Jean started, but Eren continued.

"When gods were around, we ate souls. Entire souls. Every emotion, every thought, every belief, everything... But, too bad for them, eating raw souls drives you crazy." Eren finished rather offhandedly, as if it were as obvious and mundane as a comment about bad weather.

"Wait," Jean asked. "…Didn't Marco take part of my soul?"

"Exactly. He took it. He didn't eat it." Eren said. "Trust me, you'd know if it were actually eaten."

"How- But he swallowed-"

"Oh yeah, humans don't have crops… Let alone soul crops… I forgot about that…" Eren said, more to himself than Jean.

"What do plants have to do with-" Jean started.

"No, idiot, the other kind of crop! It's a sac that comes before your stomach." Eren interjected. Jean tried to ignore Marco's soft giggling.

"Okay so-" Jean tried again.

"I'm done explaining all this to you; you'll let the rest of the kelpie go bad!" Eren cried, as he grabbed the massive decapitated horse and actually managed to heft it up with his arms, all of his tentacles, and quite a bit of effort. "God, Marco, y-you made this thing look…look like nothing…" Eren slightly strained to say, as he meticulously shifted his quivering tentacles and the grip of his claws around to see how the creature's weight would best be supported. Jean could only stare with a mixture of horror, alarm, and awe. The creature had to weigh at least 1,000 lbs. Probably significantly more than that. One look at its soft, bulging midsection told Jean that the creature had indeed been a very successful hunter. But still, had it really been so insanely strong that it nearly drowned them all?

"…God?" Jean asked instead. The fact that Eren had said that really raised a lot of questions… Especially if both he and Marco claimed that there was more than one 'God', and they were all technically the same kind of creature they were.

"E-either shut up or h-help me carry this fatass, fatass." Eren grumbled, his body trembling slightly as Mikasa calmly came closer to him and thrust a floating, glowing blade into each of the great horse's haunches, allowing the weight to rest on them so Eren could concentrate on the front end. Incredibly enough, the blades lowered in midair just low enough so that the back end of the horse was suspended just a bit over Mikasa's head. "Well, at least someone's helpful…" Eren mused, apparently not at all surprised or amazed by what Mikasa had just done.

"…If you're taking this back to your house, do you have books on how exactly these abilities work?!" Armin asked, voice bubbling with curiosity as he stepped over to Mikasa and waving his hands under and around the blades, while Mikasa just smirked ever-so-slightly. Apparently, Armin's natural curiosity had overridden any disdain about being wet, somewhat sticky, and lucky to be alive. "Y-you're like some kind of superhero or something, Mikasa!" Armin chirped, poking and prodding at the flat sides of the blade. "Could I really get special powers too..." Armin mused softly, not really asking anyone in particular, just smiling to himself.

"Stop, Armin…" Mikasa said, although there was a gentle, flustered, unconvincing softness to it, and Jean definitely didn't miss her gentle little smile as she briefly turned to Armin. Jean decided he didn't like that tone and expression too much. At least, not if it was being used on Armin.

"Not as much as you'd think." Eren answered to Armin's question. "Humans hardly ever learn to shift their souls, because hardly any of you get a chance to swallow part of a monster soul. We haven't really seen enough of you do it to know a whole lot about it. Armin and Mikasa, you guys are super special. Most of you just don't think you can anymore. More of you used to, but you'd just scream 'magic' and 'witchcraft' and 'sorcery'. But my dad is trying to learn more about how it works, because he says it could be super important to making him a bett-"

"Wait!" Jean interrupted. "You just said Armin and Mikasa are really special, but I did it too! Aren't I special too then?!" Jean cried.

"I bet you are! There's no one more special than you!" Marco cried excitedly, although Eren looked less than impressed with Jean's attempt to have his own glory.

"You screamed and cried like a little baby and you made it go away before you even tried anything. You're not special, you're just a fluke." Eren said dismissively, eliciting a deep scowl from Jean.

"…I pretty clearly remember you doing some impressed-sounding whispering while Jean was-" Armin's speech was interrupted by Eren unwrapping a tentacle from the kelpie and quickly slapping it tight over Armin's mouth.

"Ahahaha! Kckckclkclkclkcack!" Jean was confused by the second noise, even though he'd heard it a couple of times before. Apparently, it was some kind of laughter, but more of a rapid clicking sound. "Armin! What did we say about you when you say things?" Eren said with a wide, almost painful looking smile. "We'll never get this back home at this rate!"

"But-" Jean started.

"Let's go!" Eren forcefully spoke over him, immediately setting out at a surprisingly quick walking pace, with Mikasa immediately keeping up from behind him. The others followed before long. Jean halfway wanted to just convince Marco and Armin that they could explore without Eren and Mikasa, but if he did, he /would/ miss out on a chance to spend more time with Mikasa, so he relented.

The group of children traipsed through tall grass; winding forest paths; and wet, sloshy, unstable grounds for about thirty minutes. Even in that time, Jean saw an impressive display of wildlife… Including the unsettling realization that all the insects were somewhat larger than anything he was used to.

"That's nothing." Eren told him offhand. The apologetic silence he got when he turned to Marco for confirmation was not what he was hoping for.

"Oh, wait… If you're kind of a bug yourself, Marco, it's rude to complain about that, isn't it? Sorry..." Jean told him.

"It's fine… It'd be like me complaining about monkeys, anyway. Not much of a comparison."

"What the?! Why's he always so nice to you, huh Marco?!" Eren complained.

"Because he's nicer than you." Jean answered for him.

"Ugh… God, I bet you're gonna have babies together… Gross, illegal babies…" Eren whined.

"…I think the word is 'impossible', not 'illegal' Eren?" Armin offered helpfully.

"Oh no, they can. Not right now, but when they grow up… They can. But it's illegal for a human and a monster to have babies." Eren answered.

"But they're different spe-"Armin protested.

"Possible." Eren interrupted.

"They're boys and-"Armin tried again.

"Possible." Eren interrupted again.

"How-"Armin attempted to ask

"Why do you think Marco and I look like a bunch of different things mashed together?" Eren asked, causing Armin to go quiet. "Although it's weird, you'd think the bogeyman's children would be purebred… But then again… No one knows what the bogeyman really /is/, exactly. I mean, there aren't really any bogey-people… Just him." At this point, Jean was feeling very uncomfortable, and Marco's face was a very dark green from blushing.

"Okay, I'll take your word for it. Can we just not talk about it anymore?" Jean asked, mind reeling at the thought of somehow having a child with his own best friend. A child that was genetically /theirs/, at that. Jean hardly even wanted to entertain the idea. He heard Armin muttering "curiouser and curiouser", but at that point, he wasn't really sure what to say. With a sigh, he simply continued to follow Eren and Mikasa.

* * *

><p>After a few more moments, the children arrived at a large, impressive, perfectly circular lake. The water was surprisingly much more clear and reflective than the water where they had entered, and also shockingly deep. It gave off a sense of strange, unnerving beauty that only intensified the longer it was stared into. It was almost as if it weren't exactly supposed to exist, but you were glad it did. There were massive, perfectly smooth stony pillars, silvery white with ornate, smoky swirls of black and grey. They jutted up from the bottom here and there, and all of them were at least several feet in diameter, with the tallest and thickest one rising straight from the middle. There were several very large lily pads around it, each big enough to hold a couple of people. A cloaked figure sat atop the largest one, arms crossed and head drooped down. Jean got the distinct feeling that whatever was under there was not at all a human.<p>

Eren took a deep breath, then called out to the figure. "Hey, Hannes! Wake up, you lazy bum!" Eren yelled, before opening his mouth inhumanly wide and releasing a loud, echoing, clicking sound that reverberated across the lake; something like a dolphin call put through a megaphone. Jean actually had to cover his ears. Meanwhile, the hooded figure snapped his head upright with a start and stomped twice against the surface of the lilypad with one hidden foot. This caused it to suddenly begin moving forward at an amazing speed. Especially considering that lilypads, to Jean's knowledge, were never supposed to move on their own at all. Shortly after the lilypad started moving; Hannes extended one arm into a long, black, oozing whip that seemed to be made entirely of rotting, compacted vegetation. He then fiercely cracked it against the surface of the water a few times, causing two more lilypads to join him.

After about thirty seconds, Hannes had reached them. Jean still couldn't see his face, and after seeing his arm, he decided he probably didn't want to. Jean also noted that Hannes smelled pretty much exactly what you'd expect rotted vegetation to smell like, and Jean had to remember that it'd probably be really rude to start holding his nose. Especially if this being was an adult, while Eren and Marco were already strong enough to lift a large, well-fed kelpie. However, Hannes' voice seemed kindly enough.

"Oh, Eren and Mikasa! You've been awful busy, haven't you?" Hannes asked, chuckling warmly, although there was a wet, unsettling squelching noise whenever he made any kind of vocalization. "That's certainly a big 'un." Hannes noted, as he looked at the kelpie and put a black, slimy hand with a small palm and long, spindly, jointless fingers to his chin.

Eren and Mikasa dumped the kelpie on one empty lilypad then joined Hannes on his own lilypad, seeming no less than genuinely pleased to see him. Marco seemed to be completely unaffected, waiting patiently to be spoken to. Jean and Armin, on the other hand, were not so sure.

"Hey, kids! Get on that empty one there, won't you? Come on, I ain't much to be afraid of." Hannes said. He was at least trying to sound gentle, but only Marco listened immediately.

"_Easy for you to say." _Jean thought to himself, although he stood totally rigid, far too afraid of accidentally doing something disrespectful. Plus, he still wasn't sure how in the world the lilypads were still floating, and not taking on any water at all.

"Quit being a baby, Jean." Eren mocked. He then carefully, gently wrapped three of his tentacles around Armin and gingerly placed him on Marco's lilypad. "Don't be scared, alright Armin?" Eren continued, his voice suddenly so much more gentle and caring it almost made Jean sick.

"…Why am I the baby?!" Jean cried incredulously.

"You're the one who acts tough but really isn't." Eren explained shortly, like it were the simplest thing in the world. "So there."

Jean could only grumble under his breath as he joined Armin and Marco on the lilypad, trying not to be unnerved by the slight wobbling and shaking of the lilypad as he stepped onto it. The water was incredibly clear and deep, and Jean couldn't help but anxiously look over the edge of the lilypad, where he could easily make out things larger than he was swimming around in it… And one was swimming straight towards them!

"G-guys!" Jean frantically started, voice catching in his throat. After dealing with the kelpie, he really didn't want to see any more horrible children eating creatures. "Guys, there's a giant- a giant-"

"Anukyiiruk!" both Mikasa and Eren cried happily, as the head of an absolutely enormous frog breached the surface of the water. Its skin was as smooth, black, and shiny as polished obsidian; with bands of vivid electric blue on its legs, although the exact shade and gradient of the bands gradually shifted as Jean looked at them. The creature's black irises were densely speckled with the same electric blue, while oblong spots and flecks of brilliant cyan ran in a line down its head and back.

"Did you miss me, Anu?" Mikasa said with a surprisingly tender, loving tone, climbing onto the back of the great frog, which easily supported her. The frog gave a long, deep croak in response.

"What the heck is going on?!" Jean cried, reflexively backing himself up against Marco's body for security. The lilypads were moving back to the massive pillar as if nothing was wrong at all, although their return trip was a bit slower than the arrival. Armin didn't seem all that surprised or horrified either, only very fascinated.

"It's just a pet taser frog." Eren said. "Seriously, Marco, you should've done a better job teaching him this stuff…"

"Why is it called a taser frog, anyway?" Jean asked. Mikasa suddenly looked at him intensely, and for a brief moment, a joyous excitement that Jean had never known from her flashed in her eyes. She reached in her scarf and pulled out a brownish-grey grasshopper larger than both of her fists.

"Anu, catch!" she called, which immediately seemed to get the massive amphibian's attention. She threw the grasshopper out in front of it, high into the air, and its eyes immediately locked on to the insect. In the next moment, a tongue with two knobby cyan tips shot out and zapped the grasshopper as it grabbed it and pulled it into the frog's mouth. "Good boy, Anu." Mikasa said, her tone happier and more emotional than anything Jean was used to from her.

"So you have a giant electric frog and you never mentioned it?!" Jean asked.

"I thought you'd be afraid of him, 'cause you're such a baby." Eren answered.

"I thought your reaction would be more fun this way." Mikasa explained. "I was right." She finished simply, smiling ever so slightly. Jean suddenly felt very self-conscious of his earlier reaction to the creature.

"You guys are jerks." Jean grumbled. "W-well, uh, not Mikasa…" he quickly added on.

"Now, now, you should be honored… Us making friends with humans like this is practically unheard of, kid! Ain't you glad you're a guest, and not dinner? Definitely been fed well enough for the job…" Hannes said, chuckling darkly as four dots of glowing lime green briefly became visible from beneath his hood. Even though Jean had no idea what the parents of Eren and Mikasa would be like, he was suddenly very glad that the massive pillar was only a couple of seconds away now.

"Please don't joke about that…" Marco quietly told him, as he protectively wrapped a couple of tendrils around Jean.

"It's true, ain't it? You've had yourself a nice fresh human bef-" Hannes was quickly cut off.

"**_N-no! No I haven't!" _**Marco growled, his eyes flashing dark red as he defensively pulling Jean closer. Sweat beaded on Jean's brow as he realized that Marco didn't sound all that honest.

"Oh, I'm sorry, boy! Where are my manners? That's a delicate subject there, shouldn't have said anything! Ahaha! Eren, Mikasa, would you be a couple of miracles and not tell your mother about this? She'll have a fit, knowing I made that sort of impression on these kids…" Hannes said, as he stood fully upright. Jean and Armin did not fail to note that he was about eight feet tall, and he was actually somewhat hunched over.

"You owe me." Eren said with a wide, mischievous smile; as the lilypads stopped by a short staircase leading to a short walkway and a tall, wide, semi-circular double doorway carved out of the same material as the pillar. All the children got up, and Eren and Mikasa picked up the kelpie again.

"What are these pillars made of, anyway…" Armin asked, as he curiously rubbed the surface of the pillar.

"Bone." Eren answered simply, causing both Jean and Armin to blanch. What creature could _possibly _provide bones this _immense?_

"…Bone from WHAT?!" Armin asked, his hand recoiling from it.

"A really old ancestor. A god. You don't wanna know the details." Eren told him, and that was more than enough. Wordlessly, the five children entered and descended a spiraling staircase. The air was very thick and humid, and the walls of pearly bone covered with some sort of moss that gave off a dim cyan light. Eren and Mikasa were in front, then Armin, Jean, and Marco. However, it stopped sooner than Jean expected. There was a pool of water within the bone, and the stairs stopped just as they touched it. Eren and Mikasa didn't seem concerned at all. But wait… if they were about to walk into _water, _then…

As if sensing the concern, Mikasa forcefully grabbed Armin's hand and pulled him along. Meanwhile, the flat of an ethereal blade pushed against Jean's back. Jean and Armin let out brief screams as they were forced to descend, and then… Nothing. No drowning. No coughing, sputtering, or panicking. Totally normal, and actually almost like normal air, besides the wetness and bubbles. They'd floated down into an area like a large, circular living room; lit by brightly glowing cyan kelp around the edges. The primary furnishing consisted of boulders coated in soft, plush, living algae mats. The decorations were largely various kinds of flowers and plant life, along with things sewn from a wide variety of threads, in a wide variety of methods. Regularly spaced hallways around the perimeter of the room apparently branched out to other rooms and areas of the house. On top of all of that, the whole area seemed to be designed for creatures somewhat larger than humans… Jean was somewhat unsettled by that.

* * *

><p>"It's pretty in here!" Marco said, apparently not having to try anywhere near as hard to make his brain cope with such outrageously new situations.<p>

"Yes… Pretty…" Armin mumbled, eyes darting around with a mixture of caution and wonder. "I don't have any idea how any of this is even possible…" Armin muttered to himself in frustration.

"Mom?! Mom, you're home, right?! We got some food! And we brought friends!" Eren cried, before giving off another loud clicking noise like he'd done before.

"Oh, is that right?" came a surprisingly light and pleasant voice from down the central hallway. "Well then, my cute little crayfish, let me see what you've-" Eren's mother stopped just as she emerged from the central hallway. "Oh my…" she said.

"_That's what we should be saying…" _Jean thought to himself. The woman was well over nine feet tall; with shoulder length, dark brown hair done up in a side ponytail; and two pairs of antennae. One pair was much longer than the other. She had no nose or visible ears, but she had a mouth and teeth like Eren's, and four eyes just like Eren's. However, they were honey brown rather than sea green. Her upper body was mostly covered in dark blue carapace, with grey skin exposed mainly at her joints. She had no breasts, and her arms had sharp fingers with thumbs that were somewhat oversized and serrated like crab claws. Beneath her arms; she had four pairs of much smaller, thinner, more crustaceous arms; which were in the process of fervently sewing something; apparently a sweater. Considering that she no longer seemed to be actually paying attention to what they were doing, it was pretty impressive. And on top of that, she had six much longer and thicker crustaceous legs emerging from her back. Each ended in three small, fingerlike claws, dexterous enough to be sewing yet another object, perhaps a shawl. Meanwhile, her lower body was simply long, grey, and eel-like; putting her total length past the already massive initial estimates; although various pouches were tied around her waist.

"Eren! Mikasa! More humans?! Oh, you didn't even give me a chance to get decent! Just look at their faces! If I smell one molecule of pee in this water, I'll tie you up in your rooms!" she scolded, before turning her attention to Jean, Armin, and Marco.

"Sorry, dears, but do you mind if I keep these extras out? I am just a bit busy at the moment…" she gently asked, swaying her still-sewing limbs for emphasis. Jean and Armin could only nod numbly; not even exactly sure what she was referring to until she changed her form into that of a fully dressed human with a long skirt, blouse, and apron. But just like she had said, she was still sewing with those extra crustaceous limbs.

"Did you make all of this yourself?" Marco asked amicably; looking around at the various sewn and embroidered things on the walls and floors. "It's very beautiful."

"Oh? Thank you very much, dear! I run a whole shop! Sewing these things from scratch, handmade, with whatever enhancements you ask for. I'm Kalura Jeager. Please just call me Kalura, okay?" she said warmly.

"I'm Marco. Marco Bodt. This is my friend Armin, and this is my best friend Jean!" Marco answered back; motioning to each human boy as he did so. He was quite clearly already winning Kalura over, although she seemed a bit shocked to hear his name.

"Bodt… Isn't that the contraction of…" Kalura trailed off.

"Yes, ma'am…" Marco hesitantly answered. There was an awkward silence before Kalura simply giggled.

"Well, that's fine then. You seem like such a pleasant little child, I just hope you know what you're doing…" Kalura said. "But there's more to life than being some ugly, thoughtless beast just because someone happens to produce your food. I'm so glad you've realized that, dear."

"Yeah! I would never hurt Jean! Not ever!" Marco chirped.

"Mooom, what about the kelpie?" Eren whined, not liking how Marco was unintentionally hogging attention.

"Eren, I know neither of you could've killed it like that. Not just yet, anyway. I know you put this sweet little Marco boy up to it some kind of way." Kalura said, her voice just a bit short. "But I am awful proud you carried it all the way here." she added on with a smile. "Won't you stay here and eat it with us?" Kalura said to Jean, Marco, and Armin.

"Of course, ma'am!" Marco answered immediately. Jean and Armin just nodded stiffly.

"_Is she gonna eat us instead if we say no?" _Jean whispered to Armin, a hand cupped next to his mouth.

"_That's your idea, so you're free to try it…" _Armin whispered back. "_I, on the other hand, do not wanna die right now…"_

_"And how are we not gonna die from gross raw magic-murder-horse germs?" _Jean whispered.

"_Maybe if we throw it up as soon as possible…" _Armin suggested.

"Isn't that special, kids?" Kalura said to Eren and Mikasa. "Your precious little friends think I can't hear them." Kalura said with a smile, causing Jean and Armin to practically jump out of their skins.

"It's quite alright, we do in fact cook. Well done, 160 degrees on the inside, seasoned, so on, so forth…" Kalura said; smiling slightly at the two human boys. "But I do have quite a few orders to be finishing up for the shop, so I'll have Petra take care of it…" Kalura explained, as she took a small bronze bell out of one of the pouches around her waist and rang it, causing it to briefly glow. Within a second, a young woman no bigger than six inches tall materialized in front of Kalura, somehow hovering. She was surrounded by a faint ginger glow; and she had silky, chin length, ginger hair. She had four round, amber, insectoid eyes that seemed to glitter. Two small brown mushrooms grew like stubby horns from her head, and she had insect-like limb joints. She wore a button-up dress, which was loose, white, and plain, with no socks or shoes.

"Petra, I'm going back to focus on my sewing. Those children are friends. Prepare the kelpie for them, alright? Tut tut." Kalura said, her voice more stiff and authoritative than before as she walked back through the hallway she came from.

"Right away, my Kalura." Petra said, while doing a short bow. "Follow me, everyone." she instructed to the children, with another bow. Her voice was soft and relaxing, smooth like a polished stone. Helpfully, the hallway leading to the kitchen was marked with a banner showing a knife and fork. Petra simply floated through the water to show them the way.

"_So they do actually use those…" _Jean thought to himself; thinking back to all the times Marco simply ignored eating utensils.

"Petra, Petra! Do you wanna know how we caught this thing?! …Mom got all caught up in playing nice for Armin and Jean so she wouldn't wanna talk about it…" Eren said, as they walked down the hall. Thankfully everything was roomier than a human home, or else the kelpie would be a very awkward haul.

"Oh, that kind of decapitation… Your friend did that, did he not?" Petra asked, earning a growl of frustration from Eren. "I am quite impressed. To crush a kelpie's skull at that age… That is the strength of royals!" she exclaimed, turning to beam at Marco. "Who taught you your hunting, sugar?"

"Uh… my cocoon-maker…" Marco hesitantly answered.

"Oh, really now? You are quite lucky, sugar. Hannes made Eren's cocoon over thirteen years ago, and I swear- …Wait… You would not happen to be an _actual _royal, now would you?" Petra asked, as they entered the kitchen. Just like the main living room, it was decorated with fanciful plants and various embroideries and sewn creations. But overall, it was quite easily recognizable as a kitchen. There were tools, utensils, cabinets, counters, and a dining table, mostly made out of either bone or marble. Nowhere was the stainless steel cutlery that Jean was used to, and there weren't many plastics either. Jean and Armin immediately looked around for what in the world they'd be cooking the kelpie with, while Marco rocked back and forth on his feet.

"…How'd you know, ma'am?" Marco asked sheepishly.

"Ma'am?!" Petra said with a start, her eyes turning a light shade of pink. Jean and Armin quickly turned around, fearing that she'd been angered and a horrible not-magic death was upon them, but she was actually blushing. "…Aha… Oh, sugar… No one has called me ma'am in at least two centuries! …Are you quite sure you are a royal? I did not know they were raising such humble children! Or maybe it was a favor you wanted…"

"_T-two centuries?" _Jean whispered to Armin.

"_..I'm not sure if that's really sad or really weird…" _Armin responded.

"I am 28 decades old, sugars." Petra said to the two human children, with a gentle smile.

"Oh, fuuu-" Jean started in complete surprise. Even though Marco had told him about the age of his parents, he was honestly imagining ridiculously old and wrinkly people that just refused to die, not beings older than three or four humans put together in the prime of their youth.

"Decades…" Armin repeated blankly, the tiny woman in front of him suddenly much more alarming.

"…But really, how did you know, Petra?" Mikasa asked.

"A lot of royals have been sending their children to this particular area. They are trying to find something… or more likely, someone…" Petra said.

"I don't know anything about that…" Marco said. He sounded completely honest that time.

"Rumor has it that there is an illegal child out in the human world, being raised in the general area. Kept secret, being raised as a human child… That child probably doesn't even know what they actually are. What a shame." Petra said in a low, sad tone.

"…W-what happens when they find that child?" Armin asked.

"They would be put to death, of course. Especially if that child is really what everyone fears the very most…" Petra said apprehensively.

"…Uh, uhm, what is that, e-exactly?" Armin asked again, although he was wondering if he really wanted to know.

"…It would be a grave transgression for me to speak on it any further…" Petra muttered. "_But to think that the child could really be a Nephilim... that'd be the scandal of the past millennium."_ she thought, before shoving the concern from her head and focusing on the situation at hand. "Now, my Mikasa, could you cut this open? And then you gut it, my Eren." Petra instructed. Eren and Mikasa set the kelpie down as Petra began rhythmically snapping her fingers and singing a high, clear, wordless song. The entire kelpie was engulfed in her ginger glow. Whatever she was doing, it was completely preventing the kelpie from touching the floor, along with all of its bodily fluids as Mikasa cut it open.

Jean alternated between watching the process of gutting it and being too disgusted to bear it as all the entrails and offal were removed, clumping neatly into various floating orbs.

Jean hated to admit it, but the end product actually was quite delicious. It was a daunting task to eat underwater at first, but Jean and Armin adapted. A large slab of the meat was diced up, mixed with vegetables and spices, and made into stew... Which somehow didn't mix with the surrounding water, although it could float to a limited extent. Kalura even returned to enjoy the meal with them, and they had an unexpectedly good time. The rest of the meat was put in a simplistic freezer. (Although how exactly it kept cold was a mystery, since neither Jean nor Armin dared insinuate that it was 'magic' to Kalura's face.) Most of the organs were encased in some sort of moist film and then put in immense jars to preserve them. The digestive tract was cleaned, cut up, and put in a bucket, labeled 'Anu' in large, black, slightly sloppy letters. Jean got the feeling Mikasa did it herself. Apparently, the cooking took place in an enclosed chamber that could empty itself of water before cooking.

"That was awesome, Petra!" Eren cried, as he put his bowl into a white marble sink.

"It was nothing, my Eren. Nothing at all." Petra said humbly.

"But you haven't eaten yet, Petra…" Mikasa said to Petra, with mild concern.

"I eat when the food is cold, and after everyone else. Have I not told you, my Mikasa? I much prefer it that way." Petra said. Mikasa seemed satisfied, while Marco frowned slightly, but stayed quiet. Kalura just smiled and excused herself from the room, which made Jean feel comfortable enough to give more honest opinions of his surroundings.

"More not-magic…" Jean mumbled, as he turned around in his seat to look at the bulbous, oddly made stove chamber. Intricate patterns were carved into the stone inside, largely made up of straight lines and sharp angles.

"Soulwork." Petra corrected.

"What?" Jean said.

"Soulwork. Just like handiwork, there is soulwork…. With all due respect, please do not refer to the efforts and unique talents of our people as magic from now on. It is a somewhat belittling thing to do, sugar. Magic is a trick for the stage." Petra explained, coming up from behind Jean.

"I wish someone would've told me that sooner…" Jean mumbled with mild bitterness.

"They are only children, sugar. It is quite alright." Petra explained.

"Petra!" came Kalura's voice from down the hall, strong and firm.

"Y-yes, my Kalura?" Petra called back, instantly stiffening her whole body as her eyes went dark fuchsia.

"Do not talk to a guest in such bold tones! Our _aim _here is to be hospitable to all beings. Do you understand?" Kalura called. She didn't exactly seem angry, but there was definitely a dire seriousness to her tone.

"_What's the matter__?" _Armin and Jean seemed to communicate wordlessly to each other, eyes meeting in mutual concern. Marco was looking quite worried himself.

"Y-yes, my Kalura… It is surely my mistake. Being such a small creature… Surely my brain was not large enough to retain that vital information. I will remember from now on." Petra answered.

"Good, then. Well, children, you may leave whenever you like. I hope you enjoyed yourselves!" Kalura called out, her voice much calmer and more cheerful than before.

"…Is everything alright?" Armin timidly asked Petra.

"How much do you get paid for all of this?" Jean asked Petra immediately after. There was a small, high, tittering laugh, and Petra's eyes became light pink.

"Oh, I am fine just as things are! I am a brownie! Brownies, like all fairies, are meant to always humble themselves; we never require payments!" Petra said, before her mouth momentarily twitched into a frown and her eyes flicked back to amber. "That is… just how things are."

The words didn't quite sound right to either Jean or Armin, but they didn't say anything more.

* * *

><p>The children went back to Jean's house after that. Jean and Armin were thrilled to find that they became dry again only a moment or so after leaving the water, and the stickiness from before they had entered was gone too. They walked back to where they came from, without the hindrance of the kelpie. Returning was simple, requiring only the same process in a sufficiently shaded area.<p>

Just as Eren had said earlier, Jean's parents didn't suspect a thing. Jean was glad, since he wasn't entirely sure what to make of his whole experience. Yes, the other world was an astounding, miraculous place, but at the same time, he was realizing something…

Maybe there was a bit more to the strange tale his life had become.


	9. Chapter 9

Marco's dad is basically slimy trash, and he hurts Marco in this chapter.

Just so you know.

I think the ending is cute, though.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9<strong>

The next few days were especially strange for Jean.

He wanted to keep being a normal kid and just play like he always had, but he had to admit that when it came to Marco's world, he'd never been so enthralled by anything in all of his short life.

Not even horses, if he were being completely honest with himself. That thought almost scared him. He'd found something BETTER than horses? There was actually something out there better than horses? Heck, even when it came to Mikasa, Jean was pretty sure he'd choose a well-trained horse over her… He was starting to think that maybe she was just too much trouble… But what about Marco?

Somewhere over the course of almost a month, Marco had actually managed to become very important to Jean… even if he was acting weird lately.

* * *

><p>"Marco, are you okay?" Jean asked one night, as he looked up at the ceiling. Marco was sitting there cross legged and upside down, spiracles whistling slightly. Apparently, being upside down helped him think better. Jean just thought it looked completely ridiculous.<p>

"Mmhmm." Marco said quietly, although he seemed rather distracted.

"Your soul has been shivering in my chest for a while now, you liar." Jean countered; now starting to frown. What wasn't Marco telling him?

"There's… a new moon coming tomorrow..." Marco admitted. "My parents will be here."

"Ooooohhh…." Jean said; knowing full well that asking Marco anything in particular about his parents was risky business. "Well, can't you just like… lie about what you've been doing? You can pretend to hate me for a night, I don't care." Jean said.

"No, no, shh…" Marco murmured. "I can't lie to them. Just like how you can't lie to me. They'll be able to check my memories. They'll know." Marco explained, his tone rather defeated.

"…Can't you just put your memories somewhere else for a while?" Jean asked, while thinking back to the other times Marco had transferred memories to him. "If you can share them, can't you do that too?"

"Then they'd see that I remember hiding them. Plus, they'd still sense that you're carrying part of my soul."

"Dang… I'm sure glad my parents can't look through my memories…" Jean said. "Isn't that kinda rude, anyway? All of your thoughts are just all the sudden their business?"

"Try telling them that." Marco muttered; his eyes becoming a murky yellow.

"Well, there's gotta be something…" Jean said. "Even if it might not work…"

"…Ilse used to say that if I made a human friend, I could talk to her, and she'd help me…" Marco said. "But…"

"…Well, she liked that journal thing or whatever, right? She wrote things in it for you. Maybe she left advice behind?" Jean asked.

"…Jean." Marco said quietly, before his eyes suddenly brightened considerably. He went from sitting to crouching far too fast for comfort.

"Oh no." Jean said, as he caught the elated twinkle of his friend's eyes. "Marco, really, it's-"

"Jean, you're so smart!" Marco cried, propelling himself off of the ceiling and catching Jean in a strange, upside-down bear hug. Suddenly, all Jean could see was Marco's stomach, and the only thing keeping him from falling backwards was Marco's tendrils; which Marco was helpfully using to keep both of them propped up.

"If I get killed by a hug someday, you can't have any of my stuff." Jean grumbled while Marco detached himself from the poor boy.

"Sorry." Marco said with a sheepish smile. "Hey, come on, let's go to my room!" Marco said.

"…Uh, alright…" Jean said apprehensively. He'd never been in it, and he'd almost forgotten it even existed.

* * *

><p>One momentary trip through a bunch of black emptiness later, the two boys came up in a dusty, dingy room significantly smaller than Jean's. The walls were forest green; and the only significant lighting was a glowing, yellow, silk-wrapped orb; hanging from the ceiling. There were also many smaller, similar orbs of many different colors, put in small piles in the corners of the room. Other than that, the room contained nothing but a well-stocked five-shelf bookcase and two chests sitting on the right side of the room. Right in the middle of the third shelf; there was a much smaller chest; made of dense, deep black wood, and gilded with delicate gold around the edges. Where a lock would usually be, there was only a golden, intricately patterned circle with a tiny, sharp pin sticking out of the middle. It was by far the most special looking thing in the room.<p>

Marco pushed his finger against the pin, leaving a tiny dot of black blood. The dark wood had looked plain before, but now it seemed to come to life as intricate, swirling patterns of glowing lime green briefly showed up all over its surface before it opened.

For all the beauty and mystery, all that was inside was the same worn down leather-bound journal that Ilse used to have.

"…All that for a beat up journal?" Jean asked.

"It's a really special journal!" Marco cried. "Ilse said that if I ever make a human friend, I should show it to them… But until now, I was really nervous about it…. I don't think you'll be able to read it, either. My soul only lets you understand people talking." Marco said. "… Just promise you'll be careful with it, alright?" Marco said to Jean with a sigh, as he slowly handed it to him.

"Alright, I promise…" Jean said, sensing how serious Marco was about it. As soon as Jean got a good hold on the journal, the thing suddenly felt like it was covered in thousands of cold, tiny pinpricks. The cold sensation shot through his entire body before the book suddenly popped open to the front page itself. Previously worn, stained pages became fresh and pristine, and a small, detailed line art drawing of Ilse suddenly showed up on the page and started to speak, issuing speech bubbles in perfect English that Jean could simultaneously hear in his head. There was a subtle glow around the lines as they moved; an enchanting twinkle just strong enough to notice.

"Hello! Marco let you see the journal, huh? If you aren't already aware, my name-" Ilse started cheerfully, before being interrupted by Marco. His eyes were fluctuating through so many colors it almost looked like there were soft flames dancing inside of them.

"Ilse?!" Marco cried incredulously, looking at the book. "Can you hear me?!" Marco loudly asked, which actually seemed to get the attention of the drawing. "Why, Ilse?!" Marco asked further, his voice starting to crack and tears welling in his eyes as he impulsively shoved himself right up next to Jean to get as close to the book as possible. "H-how come this didn't happen a-any other time I r-read the journal, huh?!" Marco asked, before his voice deteriorated further, and thick tears leaked from his eyes. "I w-was… so lonely, Ilse… So scared… So hungry… How come… h-how come you left me alone, huh?" he said, before his voice lost strength and volume, becoming only a tiny, hurt whimper of "How come?"

"Letting you activate all of the functions set on this journal at any time would be both dangerous and irresponsible." Ilse answered simply. "This journal took nearly a decade for me to complete. It was by far the greatest soulwork of my life. If your mother and father knew about the real reasons I created this, and the full extent of this object's abilities, well… That'd be… highly unpleasant, to say the least." Ilse said uneasily. "On top of that, if I were to have you use this to carry on conversations with a fully self-aware copy of me whenever you feel like it for months on end, that would exhaust the power supply and wear out the bindings and soulworkings until this is nothing but a normal journal." Ilse sounded genuinely regretful about the last fact, but she continued speaking after a short pause. "…This journal will have much more important uses. Whether you like it or not, you need to accept that I have died, Marco." Ilse explained. "But listen, Marco. This journal is just for you and your friends. I made it knowing that a child like you was bound to befriend humans. It'll help you, I promise that much." Ilse said with a smile.

"Okay, but what does it do?" Jean asked, growing slightly impatient. Plus, Marco was still pressed up against him. He was getting increasingly used to that sort of thing, but even he had his limits.

"This journal is technically a grimoire, so it contains, among other things: a supernatural compendium, self-defense capabilities, various soulwork utilities, history, soulwork rituals, dictionary, and a miscellaneous library of works by various non-human authors." Ilse explained.

"…It's awful small." was all Jean could think to say, in a rather sarcastic and dismissive tone.

"…No 'wow', no 'thanks', no 'this is the most splendid thing my tiny ephemeral eyeballs have ever looked upon?' " Ilse asked shortly, frustration written across her two-dimensional features.

"…Thanks…" Jean said awkwardly, he never would've dreamed he could offend a drawing. "I've seen a lot already, so maybe that's why..." Jean weakly explained. "Also, I have no idea what 'grimoire', 'compendium', or 'ephemeral' means.

"You haven't even seen your first pubic hair you little-" the following words were scribbled out, but the animate drawing only sighed deeply before regaining composure. "I see! Then it's already been a lot of fun knowing Marco, right? That's good!" Ilse said. "But I need to be turning down the self-awareness features for now. My consciousness operating at this capacity isn't good for the longevity of the journal. However, the programming of this journal is designed to give its best answer for any non-personal question you might have. Bye-bye for now!" Ilse said, as the little drawing went to the bottom left corner of the page and sat down cross-legged, then became perfectly still, with her expression frozen in a small smile.

"…Why does it have to be just a book?" Jean asked somewhat disappointedly. "It's so plain looking. But I guess it's still pretty cool anyway."

"It's not 'just a book', Jean." Marco protested. "It's the most important thing I've ever had."

"You need more important things." Jean said with all the thoughtful sensitivity of a cat who'd grown impatient with its owner.

"Well, you're important now too, so that helps." Marco said sweetly, in that obliviously guilt inducing sort of way that always made Jean feel bad that he'd been mean in the first place.

"Y-yeah, I guess…" Jean mumbled

Now that they had the book, Jean was growing curious about the rest of the room as well.

"What're all the glowy things in the corners?" Jean asked, as he meandered over to the nearest corner and crouched to poke experimentally at a fist-sized glob of deep crimson. It strongly pushed out against his finger in response, as if something were trying to break through the thin layers of silken coating around it.

"Don't touch those. Let's just get out of here." Marco answered, but Jean wasn't fully satisfied.

"Why shouldn't I?" he asked curiously. Normally, Marco would tell him something like this right away, right?

"They're feelings and memories I don't want. I wrapped them up in here so they wouldn't bother me too much." Marco explained with a sigh.

"Oh." Jean answered simply, almost sorry for asking. "Then what's the point of keeping them?"

"They always try to come back in if you don't keep them from moving." Marco explained. "And they're too personal to just bury out wherever…"

"I get it." Jean answered quickly, being able to feel that this was very sensitive territory.

Once they left, Jean felt it was as good a time as any to figure out what exactly Marco was supposed to do about his little parental issue.

"Uh… Ilse? Book? Ma'am?" Jean asked hesitantly, as he opened to the front page. "How do we keep Marco's parents from finding out he's friends with me?"

The edges of the page briefly lit up with rich, chocolate brown before the journal began to suddenly and very rapidly turn its own pages. It adopted the slightly headache inducing appearance of having more pages than you could physically fit in the alloted physical space, before coming to two pages which promptly detached themselves from the book's spine and then folded and cut themselves into a hollow paper box, with a small opening on top and very intricate lines and right-angled patterns on its outside. Even the texture of the paper seemed somewhat different from the rest, and there seemed to be incredibly fine lines and grooves on it when Jean looked closer. In fact, just looking at it seemed to put Jean in a mild trance, confusing him and making all of his thoughts steadily fade and go somewhat fuzzy.

"This book really is special!" Marco cried.

"…Uh…" Jean said numbly, before ripping his gaze away from the box. "What's it do, exactly?"

"It's a secret box. It lets you put memories in it and it covers up the memory of you doing it too. There's a catch, though…" Marco said.

"What's that?" Jean asked.

"It cuts all your ties to the memory, so you don't remember it even a little bit. And it's a self-keeping secret. Anyone else who sees the box will forget what was in there and they can't see it for themselves, even if they know what it does." Marco explained. Jean figured it made sense, as he thought back to the way that even briefly staring started to empty his head at an unbelievable rate. "That's the weakness with them. You'll forget the same secret you were trying to keep. So… you have to tie the memory to someone else first. Then they'll be the only one who really knows what's in the box." Marco said.

"I think I can do that…" Jean answered. "…How do you do it?" he quickly added on, after a moment of thought.

"It's pretty easy." Marco said. "Just wait." he told Jean, as he inhaled sharply and then steadily coughed up a large, slimy globule like the one that contained memories of Ilse. It took significantly longer than before, coming out in a series of coughing and retching that left Jean quite disturbed. This one was a dense liquid rather than gas, feeling much warmer and heavier in Jean's hands as Marco handed it to him. Jean also noticed that the colors weren't as dense or vivid as the one that had Ilse's memories… But there was a much larger amount of the color white, glowing and thrumming and swirling about so intensely it almost swallowed up the other colors.

"Okay, now just stick a thin thread of your soul to it. Imagine the end of the line fusing into it." Marco said, as he extruded a thin, glowing thread of lime green from his own finger as an example. With a bit of strenuous focus and a little bit of practicing so he wouldn't end up using way too much, he managed to get it down. He was immediately bombarded with the incredibly odd sensation of himself from someone else's point of view.

"…That's really what I sound like? …It must be your hearing." Jean grumbled almost immediately, as the memories flooded into his head in a massive deluge.

"I can hear better than you." Marco reminded Jean, eliciting a small scowl from the boy. "Do you have it all?" Marco asked, as he took the ball of memories back into his hands.

"Yeah… I'm pretty sure…" Jean said, while still trying to get used to the odd sensation of his head being filled with images of himself from a different perspective. Maybe there was even a hint of redness on his cheeks, as he felt just how important he was to Marco firsthand. Maybe.

"Marco, what do the colors mean? Like, when you cough up your feelings and stuff… What makes the colors?" Jean asked. "There were a lot of different colors in your room… And your memories of me had a lot of white in them."

"White means different things depending on its brightness. When it's that bright… It means hope." Marco explained.

"…So that means… I give you hope?" Jean asked, his cheeks becoming even redder now, which was embarrassing him even further. "That's so mushy…"

"But it's true, Jean! You give me hope… Probably more hope than I've ever had before…" Marco told him, causing Jean to turn his head and fidget with his fingers.

"I-it's not that big of a deal! It's just me, anyway!" Jean shyly protested. "You're so dramatic sometimes!"

Marco only smiled.

* * *

><p>The following night seemed to come all too quickly. Neither boy could even think of sleeping or relaxing once the sun set. And once that happened, time seemed to suddenly slow to a crawl as the boys anxiously awaited Marco's parents. It was especially hard on Jean, since Marco never even let him actually see his parents, so his young imagination filled the gap with all the worst things it could muster. What kinds of creatures were really so awful that one of his closest friends wouldn't even clearly describe them? Were they so awful and powerful that they would even be able to see through the plan? Jean certainly hoped not.<p>

Jean and Marco temporarily traded their borrowed soul fragments back to each other, and Jean hid the secret box underneath his covers. Meanwhile, Marco went into his room, to wait for his parents so he could fool them.

If only it were that simple.

After pretending to sleep for what felt like eternity, Jean was suddenly jolted into high alert by a fearsome, smothering, insidious aura, like death itself was giving him a death glare. Cracking a single eyelid open ever so slightly, he saw it. Four eyes, much higher up than Marco's, all glowering and glowing dark red. A thick, acrid black smoke rolled out of the closet as Jean shivered beneath his blanket, tears immediately springing to his eyes.

"This… this is a monster?!" Jean thought to himself, as he drew himself up into a ball. A thick black arm burst out of the closet, blending into the surrounding darkness. The skin could hardly be called skin at all. It was slick, shiny, and absolutely grotesque. It twitched and writhed about, little bits of it occasionally hopping and skipping about its surface before reattaching. It seemed as if the arm had no proper skin, flesh, bone, or muscle at all. Only twitching, tensing, ugly tendrils of wretched composition. A truly horrendous hand held Marco by his neck, long nails providing it with a nearly inescapable grip. Marco only hung there limply; his half-lidded eyes were now a very smoky, faded, greyish-yellow. Jean felt a wave of nausea hit him as he watched Marco hang there. What in the world had gone wrong?!

"**Boy.**" the beast that gripped Marco spoke; in a low, gravelly, icy echo. Jean's breath caught in his throat and he broke out in a cold sweat as his entire room seemed to stretch wider and taller. The closet door was warped and stretched like it were simply an imprint on putty, allowing the nearly eleven foot tall being of darkness to enter Jean's room. Jean didn't dare answer.

"**BOY.**" the beast repeated; its eyes widening and nostrils flaring steam as it did so. "**You're trying to hide something from me, aren't you?" **the beast asked. Jean could only start sobbing in response. **"Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. You and this useless child find a way to hide the memories away… But you don't even stop to think just how much you reek of each other's own scent. Incredible… smells like he's been sleeping next to you every night!" **he said, causing Jean to only cry harder. They'd really been seen through that easily?! How had they not thought of that?!

"Don't… hurt him, dad…" Marco spoke in a faded, pleading tone. Jean couldn't even understand him anymore, since he wasn't speaking English. "He… isn't wrong…"

**"Isn't wrong? Ah… I see." **the bogeyman said, while unceremoniously dropping Marco on the floor and shrinking down to only about six feet tall, although his presence and vague body shape were no less utterly horrifying. He had started speaking monster language as well, only making his words more unsettling to Jean. **"That makes sense. He wouldn't be enough of a fool to try befriending you without you and your skewed ideas scrambling his mind. Okay then, since you're so eager to take your punishment…" **the wretched man said, before suddenly slamming a powerful hand down on Marco's body, causing him to cry out in pain. His voice seemed to calm somewhat, becoming a cold, icy drawl. "It's a shame, boy. If you had the presence of mind to just face the consequences without trying to foolishly squirm your way out of them, you wouldn't be punished as severely, and you'd at least remember why this boy was even worth going through the trouble."he said, before raising his free hand high up to nearly the top of the now-heightened ceiling, and forming it into a hard, blunt, lumpy form.

"No." Jean thought in pure anguish, as he watched it transform. "No, please…I have to…" Jean thought, trying to regain control over his terrified body as he watched the mace-like arm come down in the blink of an eye, completely smashing one of Marco's arms into a bruised, twisted form. Marco wailed in agony as Jean only watched in horror. "No! You can't do that! Why are you doing that?! Stop hurting him! He's my friend! My friend, don't you get it?!"

At that moment, in just one instant, Jean seemed to remember something. He remembered something Mikasa told him, of all things, as he felt something that wasn't blood suddenly begin to pound painfully through his whole body, giving him a bittersweet kind of power.

"This… special soul. A soul you only get when you're so angry it drive you crazy and fill your vein with lightning."

Yes… This was definitely shaping up to be that kind of situation. Jean suddenly saw everything through a cinnamon haze as the thick aura came rushing out of every pore, every cell in his body. Mikasa was just about right in how the sensation felt. It felt like he was being stretched in every direction, then pounded out like silly putty and stretched even further, ripping and tearing everywhere. His screaming and wailing had drawn the attention of the bogeyman.

"So he's awakening a special attribute…" the bogeyman said, with a much simpler and less malicious, almost curious tone. "…Look, son. He's putting himself through all that trouble and you don't even remember him. Isn't that a shame, what your choices lead to?" he asked, as he changed his free hand into a crude sickle. "I could kill him right here. Hide the evidence. Make his parents believe he's just been kidnapped. Wouldn't that be sad?" the bogeyman asked Marco, not really expecting an answer. But Jean was hardly even panicking anymore. He was more terrified than ever before, but… Everything seemed to be in slow motion.

"My soul got like this to cut up flesh."

"I couldn't cut this thing up in a million years." Jean thought. "It's like its nothing but shadows and weirdness. It's the friggin king of monsters. It's Marco's dad. I don't even want to cut him... I just want to protect us. After all, what kind of thing could cut it?!" Jean thought, as he remembered being stuck on the kelpie, and how the slime was so incredibly thick and sticky that Mikasa's blades couldn't-

Wait a minute.

Wait just a goddamn minute.

Jean thought back to being stunned or grappled by an opponent in Smash Bros. Jean thought back to Marco's feelings and memories, tied up in silk. Jean remembered Spiderman, stopping huge objects and tying up villains with his webbing. Jean even remembered watching Crocodile Hunter with Armin, seeing how the mouths of those incredibly strong animals could be held shut with relative ease.

Sometimes, it doesn't really matter how strong or scary you are.

If you can't move…

The bogeyman, seeming to sense the sudden shift in Jean's thought processes, swung his sickle-arm.

It stuck fast. It became embedded deep in Jean's thick, elastic, viscous aura, only just barely managing to lightly touch Jean's cheek.

"What…" the bogeyman said softly, looking at Jean, then his arm, then back again. "How…"

Apparently, the shock was so much that the bogeyman had forgotten to keep a tight hold on his son, who slipped out from beneath his hand.

"I'm sorry it had to be like this, dad…" Marco said sincerely. Sensing that he wasn't lying, the bogeyman smiled.

"So you're finally starting to learn your lesson, eh? One swing against the walls, and this boy would be dead. Good choice, son." the bogeyman said.

"May I finish, sir?" Marco said, pointing to Jean with a wicked grin, as he extended his tendrils towards Jean. Jean was immediately frozen in horror, too surprised to do anything. His aura immediately shrank back deep inside of himself, leaving him defenseless. What was Marco doing?!

"Oh, a change of heart already? Good to know that I can still pound some sense into you when it counts." the bogeyman said with an almost-smile.

"Also, may I tell you an idea I have? Forgive me, sir, but I'd like to whisper it to you, if that's okay. It'll really get that kid paranoid, won't it?" Marco said, his devilish grin widening.

"Alright, then, since you're finally understanding me for once in your life… I'll humor you." the bogeyman said, as he lowered his ear to Marco's face.

And for all the trouble, he just got what was apparently an absolutely god awful scream, judging from his reaction and the shaking bedroom window. Jean didn't hear a thing.

"I meant that I wanted to finish talking. I'm sorry that I had to end up hating you more than anything." Marco whispered darkly, tears brimming in his eyes, as his father gave some sort of ugly squawk of bewilderment and fell over, twitching madly.

"W-what? Lying? But I thought-" Jean started to think, before an unexpected presence tapping at the window suddenly caught both Jean and Marco off guard.

"…Annie?" both Jean and Marco said at the same time, as they looked to the pale, sparkling girl who looked like a crystal statue come to life. With one cold glance from her, Jean opened the window.

"What's happening?! I came here because I sensed your father entering this world and expected a good show, but-" Annie suddenly gasped sharply, because she was suddenly cut off by a familiar tentacle knocking her off of the window and sending her plummeting to the ground… although probably not all the way, since Jean heard a bit of digging and scraping against the side of the house.

"Marco?! Marco, what the fuck happened to your arm?!" Eren cried, now in full view. "I swam through the dark to get here as fast as I could, but… what happened?! This is just-" A crystalline fist suddenly connected with Eren's jaw.

"You dumbass." Annie hissed, as she forced herself past Eren and through the window. "I could dice you into pieces right now…" Annie said with cold disgust. Eren simply stuck out his tongue and followed her into the house.

**"Son… how dare you deceive me in such a foul way…" **Marco's father grumbled.

"Sir, I think you need to stop." Annie told him, her ever-present grumpiness only increasing. "You're out of line. I will alert my father, if this keeps up. Remember, you are only ranked seventh…"

"And why do you care?" the bogeyman grunted, as he steadily rose to his feet. "You know my boy is a lost cause as well as anyone else does."

"So a lost cause burst your eardrums and sprawled you on the floor after easily tricking you?" Annie asked. Marco almost smiled.

"Impudent little-" the bogeyman started.

"But why do YOU care, sir? This is all so stupid. All we have to do is scare human children sometimes and eat their fear. That's it." Annie asked.

"There is nothing honorable in being friends with your own prey." the bogeyman said.

"There's not much honorable about us at all…" Annie said, which surprised Eren and Marco, although Jean couldn't understand a word she was saying. "I'm just running some stupid errand I never asked for…"

"Well then, that's it, I suppose…" the bogeyman said, getting back up and cracking his neck with a sigh. "The royal child is correct, Marco. There's nothing to gain from trying to convince you to change your ways any more… You do nothing but resist. All the dishonor and treachery you'll bring simply isn't worth it. Therefore…" Marco suddenly began to shake all over, his eyes becoming a deep, murky, dirty yellow as his father placed a long, bony, clawed finger on his forehead.

"**Marklaq'fjylxcoczyx Bowyhqisgyxsu'zdt.**" He said in a grim, deadly serious tone.

"Yes." Marco immediately answered.

**"You are hereby disowned from this family and forfeit all benefits, protections, and territory. You are never to return, lest you desire to be killed. Nor will your mother and I ever be returning to see you. You are on your own."** the bogeyman said with a cold finality, before removing his claw from Marco's forehead. The room was completely silent as he slunk back into the closet, not even moving his legs in order to do so. Once he had disappeared, everything warped itself back to its normal proportions. Jean wasn't even sure what had just happened, but judging from Marco's eyes becoming dim and greyish-yellow in color, it wasn't good at all.

"Hey… hey Marco, are you oka-" Eren started, but he couldn't even finish before Marco had curled up and started crying.

"Damn. This isn't what I came here to see…" Annie muttered.

"Shut up! You just came here to make fun of him!" Eren cried, as he went over to Marco to attempt to comfort him.

"That was before I knew it was like this." Annie said, he voice tinged with guilty tones of regret. "I've never seen his dad act like that. I thought he was just being a baby."

"…Really?" Eren asked. Meanwhile, Jean was wiping his eyes and preparing to and least try and talk.

"H-hey, guys, I-I can't understand anything you're-" Jean was suddenly cut off by Annie strongly coughing and then stuffing something in his mouth. It was far drier than Marco's soul; a soft pink bundle with a very smooth, glassy texture. However, it was also rather scratchy and abrasive in some places. It had a subtly flowery smell, and a taste that was sweet, salty, and somewhat metallic. Jean was bombarded with images of vast deserts and savannahs, with incredibly tall, spiraling cacti. There were scraggly trees and bushes that looked as if their bark was made of glass in varying colors, and immense sand golems and enormous, rough-skinned worms that moved through the sand. There were vast planes of glassy substance with no shade or cover whatsoever; seeming to warp and shift constantly, always reflecting light in a plethora of beautiful colors.

"Wha-" Jean started, while clutching his head and trying to deal with the completely unexpected rush of visions.

"Don't worry about giving it back. I really don't care." Annie said flatly, now perfectly intelligible again, although Jean also found himself dealing with everything being louder and more colorful than usual again.

"You should've warned me." Jean grumbled.

"Too much trouble." Annie mumbled, before turning to look at Marco, who was still crying. "Hey. Come on. Marco. Hey." Annie said rather weakly. She looked as grumpy as ever, and her heart didn't really seem to be in it, but Jean could sense that she was actually somewhat embarrassed, despite it all. "It's okay. Your boyfriend is fine." Annie said, eliciting a bright blush from Jean.

"He is not-" Jean started.

"Hush." Annie said to Jean, as Eren patted Marco's back. Marco steadily began to cough and retch in the middle of crying; producing a dark, heavy, incredibly viscous substance of deep reds, blacks and purples. With one last heave, a malignant-looking blob the size of his head had been expelled from his body. He seemed to calm down significantly as he began gingerly rubbing the blob with his tendrils, steadily wrapping it in sheets of silk from the bases of the claws as he did so. Jean found it a bit fascinating to watch, if not strange. Within a couple of minutes, Marco had finished, and he put the silken ball aside.

"You okay?" Eren softly asked Marco, who just nodded and quietly sat there. Jean noted that his arm was already completely healed, oddly enough.

"…Hm." Annie said after a second, before climbing back out of the window and jumping to the ground with a small thump.

"I think you should talk to him, Jean… Just don't be a jerk about anything he says, okay?" Eren said with complete seriousness. Once Jean nodded, Eren moved away a bit. Jean got closer to Marco, bringing the secret box with him.

"Hey. I know you don't remember right now, but your memories of me are in this box." Jean said, holding it up to Marco, who looked at it with a blank expression for a second, before pulling out the familiar blob of memory and swallowing it whole. The change in demeanor was immediate, but Jean didn't really even get to see it too well, since Marco was immediately lunging forward to hug him tight.

"I'm sorry you had to see that… You still like me, right Jean?" Marco asked. "Even after all that?"

"O-of course I do. More than anything." Jean said, although he tensed up a little bit because he wasn't sure why he added the 'more than anything' on. Waaayyy too mushy!

"That's good." Marco said, before inhaling deeply, collecting a mouthful of Jean's soul in the process. "…It's kinda different from before. Chewy…" Marco noted. "Oh wait, hold on, let me see if I can-" Marco chewed Jean's soul some more and then blew a bubble over twice the size of Jean's head, which he then separated from his mouth and held in his hands with a look of amusement.

"Woah! Hold on, let me try-" Eren said. Jean was about to protest, but Eren had removed a blob of sparkling gold and cinnamon before Jean could do anything. Within the next moment, Eren had molded it into a ball, and started bouncing it up and down.

"My soul isn't a toy!" Jean complained. "What happened to being all serious and stuff?" Jean asked.

"Pfft, whatever." Eren said dismissively, as he stretched the chunk of elastic soul into a long cord and then started spinning the end around with one hand. "We'll be fine, who needs them anyway?" Eren said confidently.

"I already said, Jean, you give me hope…" Marco said, in the sort of sweet tone that immediately flustered Jean. "So I feel like I'll be okay, even if it is sad…" Marco continued, before crushing the bubble he'd blown and swallowing it, then giving Jean a piece of his own soul. Jean found himself accepting it with much more willingness this time, having grown used to its presence in an odd sort of way.

"…But, Marco, how the heck did you lie to your dad?" Jean asked.

"I didn't exactly lie." Marco said. "I told the truth, but I made him think that the truth was about something else. Even then, it only worked because he didn't bother to look into it too much."

"And what exactly did he say when he had one finger on your forehead?" Jean asked.

Marco was very quiet for a moment. Jean saw the malevolent ball of emotions next to him stir violently beneath its silken wrap just before Marco spoke. "…We don't have to worry about him anymore, because he's officially given up on me. I've been disowned. I'm just Marco now, so I really don't belong anywhere anymore." Marco said sullenly. Something about the look on his face caused a sudden wave of anger to well up in Jean. Even though that man could easily destroy him, there was just a brief moment when Jean wasn't anything but furious at him.

"That's not true!" Jean shouted, as he grabbed Marco by the shoulders, even surprising Eren in the process. "You belong here! With me! No matter what!"

"…N-no matter what?" Marco repeated incredulously, all four of his eyes a vivid, surprised orange.

"No matter what!" Jean repeated again. The resulting shade of yellow Jean managed to elicit in Marco's eyes was so bright that Jean had to immediately shut his eyes and make a face that sort of ruined the moment, but Marco didn't care at all as his arms and all of his tendrils brought Jean into a very tight hug.

"You know what Jean, I admit it…" Eren started, although he still seemed rather reluctant to say what was going to come next. "…You're a nice guy, sometimes."


	10. Chapter 10

**Ch 10**

Probably the most ridiculous chapter so far.

Protip: Don't ever let monsters have caffeine. Just don't.

* * *

><p>July 26th, 2004 was a very exciting date for many children in the neighborhood, and for a very good reason.<p>

The Lenz family was personally hosting Sasha's birthday party in their very well kept and spacious backyard, complete with a large pool, a tall fence, and a variety of nice ornaments and decorations. No one was exactly sure why they'd gone out of their way to do such a thing. Most likely, as an apparent gesture of kindness to thank Sasha for being such a good friend to their daughter. There were quite a few benefits to living right on the border of where decent homes gave way to a generally much ritzier and more expensive neighborhood, after all.

With the obvious exception of Christa; Jean, Connie, and Marco were the quickest to arrive, since Sasha was likely to throw a fit if her closest friends weren't there. Jean found himself just a bit jealous of the new pastel-green dress Sasha was wearing, and even more jealous of the silky layered dress Christa had on, with its hues of white and creamy yellow mixing together just right. She really looked like an angel.

But when Armin, Mikasa and Eren showed up, Jean was just shocked. And for once, the shocking thing wasn't how Mikasa's sheer existence turned him into a goopy mess. It was how Eren was dressed in a bright blue dress, even frillier than the one Jean had stuffed deep in his closet.

"Hey guys!" Eren greeted, as if there was absolutely nothing unusual about his appearance at all.

"You look so pretty, Eren!" Sasha cried.

"Boys wear dresses in Germany?" Connie asked skeptically.

"…Don't they here?" Eren asked.

"…No?" Connie answered in confusion.

"But Jean has-" Eren started.

"EREN!" Jean loudly interrupted.

"You have?!" Connie cried, immediately looking to Jean for answers.

"Well, uh-" Jean awkwardly started. This was supposed to be a secret, yet more and more people seemed to be learning about it…

"Oh, I get it." Connie said with surprising calmness, once Jean was taking just a bit too long to answer. "This is like when you said you would never speak French anymore, isn't it?"

"…I guess." Jean said, feeling heat rushing to his cheeks. Eren, Marco, and especially Mikasa didn't need to know about-

"French?" Marco asked. "How come you not tell me you speak French, Jean?!"

"…Because I sound dumb when I say it…" Jean muttered dejectedly, but Marco easily heard him.

"Who said that?!" Marco immediately responded, his eyes showing a flush of dark red for a moment.

"It doesn't matter." Jean said dismissively.

"Who was mean to you, Jean?" Marco said lowly, ominously, his voice carrying a hissing undertone.

"How are you doing that with your-" Connie started, frowning slightly at Marco's tone, but Jean answered soon enough.

"It was nothing! Just some dumb kids at school! Jeez Marco, not everything is a big deal!" Jean insisted.

"You sounded like you were going to rip someone's head off for a minute there, Marco!" Sasha said lightheartedly. "When you grow up, you should do the bad guy's voice in a movie or something!"

Marco just nervously laughed her off as Connie's parents whispered with Sasha's dad a short ways off, the subject apparently being Eren's dress, whether Eren was a boy or girl, and what kind of parents Eren must have. Connie's two year old little sister Sunny was just standing next to them, not really comprehending all the grown-up talk going on. Jean could hardly even say he was surprised when Eren suddenly disappeared a moment later. In fact, what happened just a couple of moments later had him struggling not to break down in hysterics.

Three grown adults let out a string of swears before finding themselves suddenly falling flat on their faces with incredibly bewildered expressions. They looked wildly in every direction before all of their eyes eventually settled on their feet. Not a single one of them had the foggiest idea how on Earth all of their shoelaces had been untied; only to be re-tied together into a single large, gnarled knot, but Jean definitely knew. Especially when he caught a glint of incredibly thin, shining thread in the knot as well. Then there was the glimpse of one of Eren's nails, briefly extended so long and thin it was like a needle, which made it blatantly obvious.

"Wonder how that happened?" Eren asked flatly; his nail quickly sliding back to a human appearance. Even though, or perhaps specifically because it was their parents who had suffered such an embarrassing "accident", Connie, Sasha, and Sunny quickly started to howl with laughter. Marco quickly followed suit, and Jean couldn't help but join in.

"Brilliant." Armin quietly admitted through stifled snickering, despite the fact that he was trying quite hard to be the mature one. Even Mikasa was letting out strings of high, barely-stifled laughter. Christa was a ways off, setting up brightly decorated balloons around lawn tables, but not even she was a sweet enough girl to ask the very confused parents if they were alright without some giggling.

But when Armin's grandfather came over to the perplexed adults, it was the children's turn to be not quite sure what was going on. He crouched down with a slight grunt and lightly tapped the ugly, oversized knot, causing it to momentarily write about like a bundle of tiny snakes… Or at least, that was what Jean thought he saw, before the elderly Arlert's foot blocked his view for a moment while he went to work untying it… Which, for whatever reason, was a task he managed to complete in less than ten seconds. "No problem at all!" he said good-naturedly, before standing up with another long grunt and walking by to ruffle Armin's hair. "Good show." he said quietly, while looking straight at Eren for the briefest of moments.

Jean, Marco, Armin, Mikasa, and Eren were now all looking directly at the unassuming elderly man as he walked away, trying to decipher just what exactly had happened.

"Guys. We need to talk somewhere more private." Eren whispered in his native tongue, turning away from Connie and Sasha. "Mikasa. You gotta distract those two." he quietly told her, subtly gesturing to them. As if automatically knowing what he was talking about, Mikasa covertly pulled a large brown bullfrog out of her scarf. "No, Gerald is too plain. Use that one." Eren said calmly, while Jean couldn't help but be slightly concerned about the fact that Mikasa put something that was still alive in her scarf, but Eren just said it was 'too plain'.

"But it took two months to catch Helga…" Mikasa said quietly, as she placed Gerald back in her scarf. "What if she gets away? You know someone looks into her fifth eye their ears ooze pus and-" Eren thankfully interrupted before Jean could learn the other gruesome things that happen to people who look into the fifth eye.

"…Okay, fine, Sen should be good enough." Eren attempted to compromise.

"Sen is beautiful noble warrior princess and will not be lowered to petty commoner status." Mikasa argued, her tone and expression dead serious. Jean and Armin just exchanged very confused and worried looks at this point.

"Get Kohaku then…" Eren mumbled. Mikasa paused for a moment, then nodded slightly.

"…If anything happens to him, save him. No matter what." Mikasa warned. Eren only gave a stern nod as Mikasa reached into her scarf and pulled out what appeared to be an eighteen-inch-long miniature Chinese dragon, with fins and coloration much like a lionfish. Most strikingly, it was moving around in mid-air without trouble.

"Is it... uhm, healthy to be keeping those animals in there?" Armin asked.

"Can I have one?" Jean asked immediately after.

"Yes. Never." Mikasa responded, looking to Armin and then Jean as she said the words.

Within the next moment, Mikasa was racing off to the bushes, and Eren was making such a big fuss about what she'd apparently 'seen' over there that Connie and Sasha followed in short order.

"Alright Armin, we're best friends, and I'm not saying you're a hybrid or anything, but-" Eren started.

"Eren! How could you say that?!" Armin cried.

"So you're saying you are?" Eren asked, tilting his head and scrunching his face in confusion.

"You said I was!" Armin cried.

"I said the opposite of that." Eren said.

"But when you do that it means you're gonna say I AM what you just said I'm NOT so I'll feel better and I'm more likely to-"

"Wait, what?!" Eren interrupted. "Do… do humans really do something that confusing? Seriously? I just want to know what's up with your grandpa, Armin!"

"Oh." Armin said simply, cheeks flushing red a little. "I've never noticed anything strange about him before… I've seen him eat salted pretzels." Armin said. Jean had no idea how that was supposed to be anything spectacular, but Eren and Marco seemed both amazed and disgusted at this point.

"Salted pretzels?!" Eren cried in horror.

"Why?!" Marco added on, as if he were hearing that his friend was actually a violent criminal.

"You eat salty things all the time!" Jean argued, finding the whole thing rather ridiculous. So an old guy did something weird. Everything was turning out to be at least ten times weirder than it looked, so this probably had some good explanation too.

"Yeah, but something with solid salt on it is like trying to eat fire!" Eren cried. "Maybe he's a hybrid."

"My grandpa, part monster? How do you know he didn't just learn how to shift his soul at some point?" Armin asked.

"Either way, it means he knows about us. You have to have been around something supernatural to be able to do that." Eren said.

"Then why be so secret-y about it? We can just ask him!" Jean said.

"Who knows what he'd say… He might not even be Armin's real grandpa…" Eren grumbled. "There are all kinds of things and people that can look like someone else."

"Don't say that, Eren!" Armin cried.

"…For now, we aren't in the position to do anything about it anyway. I put a soulthread in there that should've made it impossible to cut or untie the shoelaces for the rest of the day, but he didn't have any trouble. He must be really good… But I'm gonna keep an eye on him from now on, so if he tries anything funny…"

"Isn't that going too far? You were really gonna have them stuck like that for a whole day?" Jean asked.

"It's your stupid species' fault for caring so much about what I wanna wear." Eren grumbled. "They could still just take the dumb shoes off... They're lucky I didn't sew them into their feet."

When Armin and Jean only stared in horror, Eren hastily clarified his statement with "I wouldn't really do that!", but the wariness in their eyes was still obvious.

Things calmed back down as just about every child came, usually alone but some with their families, although Hannah hadn't yet arrived at all. Connie, Sasha, and Mikasa had returned from the bushes, and luckily none of the adults seemed to take Connie and Sasha very seriously when they went whooping and screaming about "A tiny dragon! A real live tiny dragon!". Most of them were assuming they had just seen an unusual lizard. However, Sasha's mood quickly changed when she saw Annie arrive, along with Bertholdt and Reiner. Marco had a very similar reaction.

"What do they want?" Sasha and Marco muttered at almost the same time, although Connie was already rushing to greet Reiner.

"What's so great about Reiner, anyway?" Sasha muttered glumly. "Just because he has money and cool stories… I bet he's lying…" Sasha continued, crossing her arms tightly. "It's MY birthday…" she finished huffily.

"Someone sounds jealous~" Jean said with a mischievous grin, and Sasha quickly understood what he was getting at.

"I-it's not like that! It's just that Connie is MY best friend! Mine!" Sasha retorted. "Plus, Hannah isn't here yet, and she actually got an invitation, so we can't do anything without her… Yet those three are here and they weren't even invited..."

"How come when you showed me the list of who you wanted to invite, Connie's name was the biggest, with hearts next to it?" Jean asked, obviously just trying to provoke her.

"Because they were FRIEND hearts, that's why!" Sasha explained more forcefully than necessary.

"Yeah, friend… more like you wanna friend up kissing him~" Jean teased further. The fact that Marco, Eren, and Armin were all starting to giggle with varying levels of restraint only made Sasha more flustered.

"I'M GONNA TELL MY DAD ON YOU JEAN, YOU HEAR ME? YOU'RE GONNA BE FRENCH TOAST!" Sasha threatened.

"Good luck with that." Jean said dismissively.

Marco grimaced while Jean and Sasha quickly became quiet as Connie decided to bring Reiner over, along with Annie and Bertholdt, and he brought himself significantly closer to Jean.

"Hi, Marco." Annie said rather stiffly, looking at him just a bit too harshly for comfort… Normally, Jean would be as unnerved as anyone else by this action, but according to the portion of her soul he still had… She was actually trying to be friendly? Weird. Just like everything else. He didn't even know what WASN'T weird at that point.

"Uh, hi?" Marco responded skeptically, obviously unsure of Annie's intentions.

"Hey guys, do any of you know why Christa is talking to Mina?" Reiner said disdainfully, looking off into the distance where Christa and Mina were in a rather removed area near the entrance. Mina seemed quite nervous, while Christa seemed as chipper as usual. "What's so special about her? She's a bedwetter!"

"Really?!" Connie said in a highly amused voice.

"Bed's wetter than the ocean." Reiner replied, earning a few childish snickers from the group.

"Don't talk about her like that!" Sasha snapped, balling her fists and trying to look as tough as possible to the taller and stockier boy. "She's nice! Nicer than you, you big weirdo!" Sasha argued.

"But I've hardly ever talked to Christa myself, and today was my chance!" Reiner argued

"Like you could get Christa…" Marco muttered lowly.

"What did you just say?!" Reiner said, head rapidly turning towards Marco as he stepped around Sasha to get a little closer.

"She's not gonna like you like that." Marco said with flat, brutal honesty.

"You're one to talk, I bet Jean doesn't even like you!" Reiner shot back.

"Reiner, no, why would you-" Annie started, already anticipating what would happen next.

"**You take that back."** Marco growled, quite literally, drawing very alarmed and confused looks from Connie and Sasha.

"And if he does like you, he's nothing but a huge idiot anyw-" Jean wasn't exactly sure what he saw next. Marco's eyes were black in an instant, and his body seemed to flicker forward like a skip in a movie's film, moving position so he was standing only millimeters away from Reiner without even the slightest warning. It was as if the Earth itself had moved him forward. Another flicker, and Reiner was lying flat on the ground, groaning in pain, while Marco was still standing by Jean as if nothing had happened.

"Jean is NOT an idiot." Marco said with a firm yet dissonantly calm voice.

"Wow." Annie said boredly as she looked down at Reiner, simply shaking her head softly as Bertholdt helped him back to his feet.

"Woah! You knocked him over without even moving!" Connie cried. Quite a few adults were now watching in utter confusion, apparently under the same belief as Connie. But Jean knew better. Marco definitely moved.

"What? What was that? All he used to do was cry…" Reiner thought warily.

"I get it…" Annie thought. "He's not the same now."

Although no one was exactly sure what had happened, the group of children was hastily split up and advised to go off and do various things in other areas of the yard, with some adults muttering about "kids these days". Connie attempted to go off with Reiner, but Sasha hooked an arm around him before he could even manage it.

"Let's go see if we can find more dragons, Connie!" Sasha said cheerfully, although there was something so assured about her tone that denying her seemed like it was out of the question.

"But I was just about to tell Reiner about the dragon!" Connie weakly protested.

"You can do that later!" Sasha immediately replied, while already making her way back to the bushes.

* * *

><p>Eventually, Jean and Marco ended up pretty much standing around on their own near the backyard's entrance, although Jean's mother had come by and given them cans of Dr. Pepper.<p>

"Try not to bounce off the walls too much, alright kids?" Mrs. Kirstein said teasingly.

"Okay." Jean said simply, even though he really wanted to say "Mom, we're outside." But as he knew all too well, his mother was not a fan of sassy comments. On top of that, he hardly got to have soda as it was, since both of his parents were very opposed to the negative health effects. He wasn't in the mood to get a rare treat revoked just because of a smartass comment.

But maybe if he were actually allowed to have soda more often, he'd have known what'd happen to Marco.

"Jean, what did she mean by bouncing off the walls?" Marco asked, as he opened his can.

"It's just that soda has a lot of sugar and caffeine so sometimes it makes kids hyper." Jean explained.

"Oh, okay…" Marco said, as he lifted the can to his lips and took a long drink. "…This is really good!" Marco said, before taking another long drink, cracking a massive grin, and then draining the rest of it. "Really, really, really good!" Marco loudly cried, which was making Jean a little worried. Was it just him, or were Marco's pupils much larger than normal? Something about this was different from how it usually was when Marco was excited.

"Marco, are you okay?" Jean asked. "It's just Dr. Pepper…"

"AHAHAHAHA!" Marco cackled, laughing far too loudly at Jean. "Dr. Pepper?! Why would you name a drink?! That could be anyone's name! That's too funny!" Marco said, his voice now faster and higher than usual. Jean was definitely getting worried.

"It's not that funny…"

"Which funny is it then?!" Marco asked, before breaking out into another loud, raucous bout of laughter. "How many funnies is it?!" Marco asked again, leaning very closely to Jean's face and apparently losing all control over the volume of his voice.

"Uh…" Jean started, but Marco put a finger to his mouth.

"Jean. Hey. Hey, Jean. Jean. Long Johns. Johnny Bravo. James Isaac Neutron. Port-a-John. Jean." Marco said, once again too close to Jean's face.

"Uh, what?" Jean asked, not sure what exactly had gotten into Marco.

"Hahahahaha! You're hilarious, John Goodman! I'm gonna. I'm gonna get! Get more of those Dr. Peppers! So… so I can open my own hospital! Get it? Can open? Because they're cans! Isn't that funny, Joan of Arc?" Marco cried, while giggling like mad.

"…Marco, I think you need to calm down."

"Who's this 'Toocalm Down' person? All I need for Christmas is my two front teeth!" Marco said, cackling loudly again as he made his way over to the cooler where the rest of the soda was being held. Jean groaned when it appeared that nobody else noticed him at all, and he managed to grab six sodas without any issue. He had a horrible feeling about this. Marco came back humming loudly and erratically with the cans of soda, swaying his body in an overly animated fashion. It was a miracle he didn't drop anything. But at this point, his behavior was so odd that Eren, Armin, and Mikasa were coming to see what was going on too.

"…Jean, did you let Marco drink soda?" Eren asked, in a dead serious tone.

"Uh, yeah?" Jean answered, causing the other three children to immediately blanch as Marco set the cans on the ground.

"Oh no, Jean. I'm sorry, I meant to tell you, but… No, no, no, this is bad, this isn't gonna-" Eren was cut off by Marco already opening one of the cans with a delighted gleam in his eyes. "Marco, don't!" Eren cried.

"Carpe diem, Arid!" Marco cheerfully and rather nonsensically replied, as he chugged the can in no time at all. Eren frantically attempted to grab the remaining five cans, but Marco flickered out of place and blocked his path, then reached down and grabbed a can in each hand with blinding speed before opening them both and drinking them at the same time.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Eren said, as he dove at Marco to try and knock the carbonated drinks away, but Marco only flickered out of the way at the last moment.

"Now now Karen, don't be rough with the good doctors!" Marco chided, as he quickly picked up two more, which now seemed to open just through the act of him touching them.

"If you're gonna be weird, at least get my name right!" Eren cried, leaping forward towards Marco again… who responded by falling backwards before Eren could grab him. Then, through some maddening quirk of his hyperactive physiology, managing to phase right through the ground, and loop right back to his original position with not a fleck of dirt or spilled soda on him.

While Eren pulled himself up, Mikasa rushed forward, an ethereal blade at the ready, and Jean and Armin could only think that they /really/ wished an adult were seeing this.

With one deft thrust, she managed to stab through one of the Dr. Pepper cans Marco was holding… except none of it spilled at all. In fact, the metal simply closed back up with not a scratch on it. "Better luck next time, Minnesota!" Marco cried, before chugging his fifth can of Dr. Pepper.

"Why isn't Grandpa doing anything this time?!" Armin cried, looking over to where his grandfather was simply sitting at a lawn table no more than thirty feet away, idly drinking lemonade while blissfully unaware of the logic-defying madness his own grandson was witnessing.

"Marco's had too much caffeine already, his powers are getting weirder by the second!" Eren cried, as he sprinted towards Marco to try and get the other can of Dr. Pepper he was holding. At this point, Jean noticed the trio of other monster children watching from behind him. "But don't worry, we can still stop him!"

When he gave them a look that frantically pleaded for answers, all they could do was stare back in complete pity.

"Just let it run its course." Annie told Jean, as Eren actually managed to grab the can Marco was holding with his outstretched left arm… Only for Jean to suddenly see Eren and Marco switch places, and trade left arms in the process. Eren ended up standing in Marco's old position in complete bewilderment, with Marco's left arm instead of his own. Marco ended up where Eren was, holding the can of Dr. Pepper with Eren's left arm.

"You and what army, Eren?" Marco called, before giggling like mad at his own awful pun.

Annie and Bertholdt just groaned as Jean's jaw dropped nearly to the ground.

"Eren!" Mikasa cried, as she summoned dozens of short, floating, dagger-like blades of aura, all pointing at Marco… Only for Marco to show up behind her and tap her shoulder, while drinking the can of Dr. Pepper. Jean had never seen Mikasa look so completely dumbfounded. He could hardly believe it either, especially because Marco was also still in front of Mikasa, still surrounded by her daggers, the only difference being he was no longer holding the can that the second Marco had just downed in no time flat.

"The fuck is going on?!" Eren cried.

"It's entertaining, I'll give it that much." Annie dryly replied. The first Marco proceeded to use Mikasa's stunned inactivity to pick up the last can of Dr. Pepper. He then jumped about fifteen feet into the air, well above Mikasa's daggers, and did a surprisingly skillful backflip. Finally, through some unknown power, he suspended himself upside down; still fifteen feet in the air with the Dr. Pepper just a couple of feet below his mouth. It proceeded to pour against gravity, rising right up into his waiting mouth while the children only watched in complete astonishment. The first Marco fell to the ground the moment he was finished drinking, while the second Marco briefly ducked behind Mikasa and completely disappeared for a moment. Mikasa worriedly searched for him for a second, but then at least twenty more Marcos poured out from behind her. They were all dressed at least partially in construction worker outfits, and holding all kinds of wooden boards, screws, paint, hammers, nails, and power tools. At this point everyone was so confused that they did nothing more than watch them.

"Time to build a hospital!" all twenty-some Marcos simultaneously chimed in a cheerful tone.

"I've never seen anyone go this far before…" Bertholdt muttered. "I'm getting kinda scared…"

"He'll crash soon. I hope." Reiner tried to reassure him.

"What is he doing, anyway?!" Armin frantically asked, as the twenty-some Marco started to flicker about at maddening speeds, building around the children at a breakneck pace.

"It's basically a caffeine high. A really, really, really big one. Monsters aren't supposed to drink caffeine. It overloads our powers… But obviously, Marco did, so… we're kinda just waiting for him to wear himself out." Reiner explained. "But I've never seen one this weird... Usually, it's just a crazier version of your normal powers, but... With this one... It's like he can basically do anything he wants!"

"And how long is that supposed to take?!" Jean and Armin cried simultaneously, over the racket of so many Marcos building and darting about and singing random off-key songs.

"I dunno." Reiner said. It was probably the single most unsatisfying answer Jean had ever been given to anything in his life, and it was really starting to get him frustrated. What was Marco going to do next?! What if he never went back to normal?! What if something really bad happened? The sounds of high speed construction and the general confusion were really getting to him, too… "It's your fault anyway, for being dumb enough to let him have caffeine…" Reiner continued.

"I'm not dumb! I didn't know!" Jean shouted.

"Well, it just goes to show, being friends with Marco is nothing but trouble." Reiner said. "Like they say, all he does is mess things up… You can't even go to your friend's birthday without something bad happening." Reiner continued.

"Shut up! That's not true!" Jean cried.

"It is! You think you're so special, just because you can be friends and you don't have to lie about everything, don't you?! You thought you were so great! Well this is proof! Proof that you might as well stop being friends with Marco! In fact, don't be friends with any of us!" Reiner shouted snappily. If it wasn't so loud, Jean would've sworn he sounded more hurt than he would've if he were just antagonizing him normally. "…All we'll end up doing is hurting you…" he added much more quietly, but Jean couldn't hear him over the cacophony of working Marcos, and at that point, it was just getting to be too much.

Jean started to cry. Slowly at first, but louder and harder as the noise and confusion continued to torment him.

And then the noise stopped. Someone was hugging him, and it felt very familiar.

"…Jean?" came Marco's voice, quiet and restrained. "Jean, I'm sorry, I don't know what happened, but-"

"It was THAT easy?!" Eren cried, looking incredulously at the one much calmer Marco as the half-built hospital started to fall apart, the pieces fading away into nothingness in the process.

"You're an idiot." Jean grumbled.

"I know, but-"

"No, I was… I was… really scared, a-and worried about you, and I didn't… didn't know what was going on, and it was so loud, and and and-" Jean started.

"…You were worried about me?" Marco said, his tone disbelieving.

"Well duh, I've never seen you act like that before!" Jean snapped, his voice still choked and scratchy from crying.

"…Thanks." Marco said softly, hugging Jean a little tighter.

"Did you give Eren his arm back?" Jean asked.

"…What are you talking about?" Marco asked, as he looked around for a second to spot Eren. "His arm is fine."

"But I SAW it, you- you swapped his arm with yours, and there were like twenty-five of you, and…"

"Jean, I can't do any of that stuff… But at the same time, you aren't lying…" Marco said worriedly.

"Just. Just never have any caffeine EVER again, you weirdo." Jean told him.

"Okay, I can do that…" Marco said. "It'd be really great if I actually remembered what happened though…" Marco said, before letting out a very long yawn. "…Why am I so tired…"

"I'll explain everything later." Jean said, as Eren walked over to them.

"The one good thing about caffeine highs is that everything goes back to how it was when it's over." Eren said. "Who would've thought that you'd solve the problem just by being a big crybaby?" Eren teased, which only caused Jean to scowl.

And of course, that was when Hannah finally showed up.

She had no idea why half the kids seemed to be recovering from a traumatic experience, she was just happy she finally made it.

"Hi guys! Where's Sasha? Why does Jean look like he was crying?" Hannah called innocently.

Everyone who had been a part of Marco's caffeine high could only give various sighs and grunts as a response.


	11. Chapter 11

**Ch 11**

* * *

><p>"Marco. Marco, wake up." A voice that wasn't Jean's told a much younger him.<p>

"Nnn… Mama?" Marco said, as he uncoiled his body; nestled in a pile of leaf litter and wedged into the base of a massive tree. His voice was sleepy and small.

"Shhh. Don't call me that. I told you, Marcocoa, don't call me that." The voice softly chided.

" 'M sorry, Ilse…" Marco sleepily apologized.

"It's quite alright. Come on now, there's something I want to show you… It's the finest sight in all of Taerh, I'm sure." Ilse said, as she lowered her back to Marco and allowed him to climb on.

She carried him deep, deep, deep into the forest they called home. Past the reasonably sized trees, down to a dark, dark, dark place that reeked of oppressive dampness and musk. Not even a blot of greenery persisted, every life-form deciding it was better to forsake photosynthesis altogether. Gigantic composting leaves crunched beneath Ilse's somewhat insectoid toes as the orange sun was completely blotted out by the thick canopy of the increasingly taller and thicker trees. Many of their massive branches and masses of vines locked and knotted together high above the child and guardian, forming many stories of huge, wide, gnarled natural pathways and platforms far above the ground.

"Ilse, it's not good to go this far down! Bad stuff will happen!" Marco warned.

"The most fruitful life is one that properly balances risks and safety." Ilse told Marco, as she jogged past a beetle the size of a small car, drinking sap from a massive bioluminescent boil growing from the bark of an incredibly enormous tree.

As she continued to move deeper down, the trees grew more immense, and the ground became criss-crossed with massive roots, connecting the trees like the bridges above. Thin, simple wormlike creatures entered and exited them through small pores and slithered about on the ground, swallowing detritus and bringing it back to the roots. The frequency of the glowing boils also increased as Ilse went ever deeper into the forest. Huge, mildly pulsating, and sickly yellow, often with discolored parasitic vines growing over them like diseased veins, and various moths flitting around them like mad. Their wings were nearly transparent, refracting the pale light into various colors. The boils were the main sources of light in the looming darkness, dimly illuminating the path, while the moths gave it an eerie, otherworldly sort of beauty. Ilse stopped as a blind, mouthless, legless millipede the size of a bus slowly passed in front of them; hovering just above the ground. The body was pitch black, but the creature's belly allowed a clear view of dozens of gaseous flotation chambers, bulging out from its underside. Its back carried thousands of glowing, oversized, lavender mites; who attracted and captured moths to chew them to mush and then regurgitate them into acidic membranes beneath the millipede's armored joints.

Some time after the passing of the vast millipede, Ilse and Marco were joined by a deer larger than a bull elephant, just small enough to fit in the spaces between the enormous trees. It had six yellow eyes, a line of three on each side of the head. The fur was like thick, hanging, dark red moss with small toadstools haphazardly sticking out; giving off small quantities of glowing maroon spores as the creature's steps shook its immense bulk. The creature's legs were covered in thick, massive plates of fungi, and instead of hooves, the creature had almost birdlike feet covered in short hairy bristles. They possessed massive talons, the bottoms of which were covered with tiny spiky grooves. On the colossal deer's head were immense, pale beige, branching antlers, the branches all ending with mushroom caps whose undersides glowed a striking fuschia.

But when Ilse eventually reached a massive dropoff leading to an even deeper section of the forest, the overgrown beast made a right, wandering off as Ilse secured a rope of silk to the ground and prepared to scale down the cliff.

"W-we're going into the Haze?" Marco murmured worriedly.

"There is nothing to fear, sweet child." Ilse said calmly, noting that Marco was beginning to tremble against her back.

The sickly sweet scent of carrion wafting up from the barely-visible ground, hundreds of meters below, didn't really convince Marco of that.

The trees at the bottom of the cliff sharply increased in size in comparison to the ones above, in exchange for being spaced much further apart. It was hard to even see the bridges between them, now incredibly high up. The wind was very still, and a dense and persistent fog claimed the abyssal forest, making the lighting of the glowing sap boils even dimmer. Here the ground was soft and pungent in odor, covered in a massive variety of droppings and heavily decomposed leaves and animals from much higher up. The thick roots of the trees were no longer a problem; now buried beneath a compacted layer of tarry, pitch black waste and decay. There were two house sized skeletons lying on the ground near where Ilse and Marco first came down, one predator, one prey, having quite clearly fallen from above in the middle of a desperate struggle. Their skeletons were completely coated in a creeping, slimy, weblike brown fungus, having seeped through the incredibly hard bone and into the marrow.

"Ilse, I don't like it here." Marco said. "It's scary… "

"Shhh, Marcocoa… we're almost there. It'll be worth it. I promise."

There were areas where the ground was as soft and viscous as watery porridge, held together and made roughly solid by the connective tissues of very thin, deep reaching fungus tendrils. Nodes of deathly potent yet beautifully twinkling and glowing white venom were scattered throughout them, making the forest floor look like a patchy night sky; yet foul waste gases bubbled up from the porridge-like fungus grounds, contributing to the fog. The tendrils would trap, kill, and consume anything soft and weak enough for them to handle, so Ilse avoided the mesmerizing little lights. To resist the ravenous fungus mats and noxious gas, the native life took a different approach.

Tiny, incredibly hardy beetles that seemed to be made of bone made skeletal, dodecahedral hives on the bases of the trees, descending to the forest floor to collect nutrition from the soft black substance on the ground. There were batlike creatures, strange crossbreeds of clockwork and skeleton, with nearly two meter wingspans. They created a chaotic, echoing chorus of odd, barely-natural clicks and whirs. They seemed more robotic than natural, and highly unnerving. Their joints were unusually robotic, and their bodies had metallic sheens to them, the bony makeup coated with iron. Gears of bone and pulleys of sinew could be clearly seen in some areas. Their wing membranes were much too short and thick for flying, and they instead used their wings like rudders as they blasted themselves through the air in rapid bursts, using gas propulsion powered by the abundant fumes in the area. They would also use them to pluck beetles from the skeleton hives and slowly sift through the thick detritus for insects and salvageable meat and bone.

"These things are covered in iron!" Marco whined, nuzzling his face against Ilse's back.

"Shhh. That's okay. These boneworks are not interested in us." Ilse told him, as they continued to walk onwards.

Many metallic squidlike organisms floated through the air, their bone-studded mantles full of gas and their tenatacles protected by rings of iron-rich bone and thick, flexible sinew. Each was several inches long, and they seemed to move in large groups, with strangely rigid and organized geometric patterns. Occassionally, arcs of electricity would leap between them. One group, moving in a large sphere, brutally electrocuted a bonework bat that flew into the middle and then set to work using their powerful beaks to slowly crush and devour it in midair.

"What if there's a Loomer though?" Marco asked.

"Then we will run." Ilse answered. "They're very slow."

The gloomy abyss of the forest steadily started to become brighter as the two walked.

"Ah, we're getting close…" Ilse said in a quiet yet relieved tone.

However, whatever the light was, it only took a few more minutes of walking before it became apparent it was attracting a Loomer.

It was an ugly, deplorable creature; a massive, stench-ridden, misshapen humanoid reminiscent of Frankenstein's monster. At over fifteen meters tall; it was a thoughtless, ravenous creature made by a vast network of fungus tendrils; which had taken the rotting flesh, bones, and tissues of things that had fallen into the abyss and repurposed them into a hideous, asymmetrical, chimerical body. No two Loomers looked very alike, but they were all extraordinarily repulsive. Mushy, haphazardly placed rotting flesh and organs were held in place by mycelium, and plates of metallic bone covered its body.

Six long metallic rods erupted from the creature's back, electricity often arcing between them. They'd been repurposed from the metallic squid the vast beast had previously eaten. Crude pipes of metal bone stuck out of various places on its body. They expelled hot, thick, acrid smog, both as waste and heat regulation.

That particular Loomer had a torso with an elongated, oversized, mismatched ribcage, which seemed to double as the creature's mouth. Stolen intestines and esophagi, now repurposed into organs for foraging, hung loosely out of the bottom, dragging against the ground and ingesting the foul mixture of detritus as they went. One arm was shaped like a massive club, and its enormous knuckles dragged against the ground. The other was like an immense mounted lance of bone, for skewering and tearing whatever large corpses or creatures the Loomer happened to come across. The creature's entire face was covered in snail-like eyestalks, always peering about for the best sustenance.

"We have to run, Ilse!" Marco cried.

"No, it's not interested in us… It's interested in what's ahead." Ilse said.

"Huh?" Marco asked.

"A star has fallen." Ilse said.

Unlike a genuine celestial body, a star of the monster world was not a thing of immensely hot gas and plasma. When Ilse and Marco reached it, it was an absolutely humongous whale-like creature with six pairs of flippers and a body speckled with lights. But those were somewhat difficult to see, when the biggest and brightest light of all was its very round and swollen stomach.

The creature made its surroundings bright as day, while suspended three meters in the air by the trunks of two trees. It was hundreds of meters long, with a stupendous circumference, although somewhat compressed by being jammed tightly in between the trees. It'd burned away part of their trunks as it fell, and easily burned and broken through all the branches and foliage above. The entire area was incredibly warm, and it reeked of smoke and ash; but the star's light was beautiful, although Marco had to adjust his eyes so he'd be able to actually look at it. And despite the great heat and awful smell, it was actually rather comforting to be near it, as it radiated immense amounts of life-empowering energy.

The Loomer, now joined by five other Loomers that had come from other directions, closed in.

"S-should we let them eat it?" Marco asked, fearing what so much mystical energy would do to creatures that could repurpose whatever they consumed.

"Just watch." Ilse said in an amused tone, as the Loomers set to work. The moment they ruptured the star's stomach, highly viscous, syrupy, glowing liquid began gushing out, along with a great amount of vapor. As the Loomers ate, their bodies began to grow and swell… But also they began to light up. They became bloated, and their flesh started to melt and burn and fall apart as their bones and flesh split, light pouring out from within. They groaned and roared and hissed with everything they had, their grostesque mouths wailing and sighing and thrashing their fetid tongues in every direction. However, it was already too late.

"There isn't a thing dead or alive that can handle raw stars." Ilse said, as the Loomers melted away into glowing mush, murmuring and spraying gas as they went. "However, the gas and fluid is one of the most powerful substances in existence… That's why we're here, Marco… Since this is such a deep part of the forest, this hasn't been blocked off to harvest it for stardust yet." Ilse explained, as she wove a silken bag and carefully approached one of the intensely bright syrupy streams pouring off of the creature.

It was then that the memory became more like a dream… or perhaps, a nightmare.

Suddenly, beings that seemed to be made entirely of brutal, awful, stinging light appeared, and burned Marco's body and eyes just by being in his presence. They had massive wings of the same light, dozens of meters in span, phasing through and burning everything they touched with extreme heat. They were even covered with dozens of horrible, unnatural eyes, the pupils somehow ring-shaped instead of round. And above their heads, there were blazing ring shaped auras that caused torturous pain just to look at, like the entirety of the sun condensed into just one spot.

Words remembered all too well spilled from their mouths as they converged on Ilse. Suddenly, Marco's parents were there too, and they were all watching from behind a thin veil. Marco was completely transfixed, but they turned away with not even a shred of sympathy. His father had a murderously tight grip on him, his fingers digging into Marco's skin. The dream had warped the flow of the memories, but Marco remembered the specifics, and the words the beings spoke all too well. It was a language like the song of chaos itself. The sound was so rich and dominating that even though their voices were low, he could hear nothing else. His ears ached and burned, and his very soul throbbed painfully in his chest. The forest faded away, replaced by a vast circular courtroom carved into the heart of a tree that was vaster still. In the center of the room, Ilse was sprawled out on a table of cold, smooth, solid iron, engraved with almost mockingly beautiful and poetic symbols. Her limbs were chained down with silver, and she writhed with agony, vomiting blood that popped and hissed violently upon contact with the table. Her exoskeleton had become dull, cracked, and ragged; smoking, sizzling, and becoming more brittle by the moment.

_"Foolish whisper of a ruler gone silent, for what purpose was your crime meant?"_

_"Thou has stolen the humble gift we sent, and abandoned mercy, too late to repent."_

_"On this day, we see thy heart, more wicked than the darkest art."_

_"We see that thou hast done thy part… and has no choice, but to be torn apart."_

"No! No, you can't! Stop! Please!" Marco wailed, sticking his head outside of the veil despite the vicious brightness. Unfortunately, his voice felt like it was being crowded out by the sheer presence of those creatures. Without mercy, the beings ripped Ilse into shreds, as if she was only made of soggy tissue paper. Black blood splattered and exploded onto every surface, even on Marco's face. Nothing identifiable was left.

Marco's eyes went darker than a moonless night, and a rage unlike anything he had ever known overcame him. His muscles propelled him towards the beings before he even knew what he was doing, brimming with seemingly bottomless energy. His father's arm was ripped to shreds before he even realized it.

Screams, splatters, muffled cries. Pained, songlike whimpers of "But the light…" and "Why doesn't it…" and "How can this be…". Marco could just barely hear them, over the deafening roar of his own agony.

"**Kill them all! Rip them until they can't be ripped anymore! Swallow them whole! It's justice, right?! Look, you're a hero!" **a voice from deep within cackled.

_"Y-you're wrong! Th-this is all wrong!"_ Marco weakly attempted to argue.

"**It's what they deserve! It's what you deserve, too!" **the voice screamed.

_"I'm… I'm sorry, everyone…"_ Marco muttered tearfully, as the memory faded to a new one, one where he was chained up in a dark, dark room, deep below the ground.

_"I'm so sorry."_

* * *

><p>Marco jolted awake, his eyes bright red and full of tears, his bifurcated arms and tendrils squeezing him tightly.<p>

"Marco?! Marco, what's wrong?!" Jean managed to say, quickly awoken by the unusually forceful squeeze Marco had on him.

"The dream…" Marco muttered, in a small voice, despite the fact that he was 14 now and his small voice was quickly breaking and crumbling away in favor of a new, deeper, stronger voice. He didn't like it. He didn't like the size of it. It reminded him what he was capable of.

"Marco, it's only a dream…" Jean said softly, as he reached up and started to gently rub at the base of one of Marco's horns, hoping to elicit that thrumming, gurgling purr he liked so much… But it didn't come.

"But Jean… I could… It could-"

"It won't happen, Marco. It won't, okay? Listen here, Marco. You will not kill me. I trust you. You're so much better than that, man. The best people just never know how good they are, y'know?" Jean said. The compliments seemed to loosen Marco up a bit, and he finally allowed a small purr to escape.

"Pfft. I love you, Jean." Marco said, his eyes calming to a pleasant yellow.

"Yeah, love you too." Jean said, but not like Marco wanted him to. Marco hadn't said it like he wanted himself to either. It was already obvious that Marco had always loved Jean. Anyone could see that. But lately, Marco had felt his love getting a little… different. Much more complex. Before, it'd been "That's my best buddy, Jean!", but now he wasn't so sure what exactly he'd like Jean to be to him. Best friend? Brother? Boyfriend? Soulmate?

Whenever Jean laughed or expressed joy, Marco would feel heat in his face, and sometimes become a little short of breath.

Whenever Jean was upset, Marco wanted to steal him away from the whole world; take him somewhere alone, just the two of them, forever and ever…

Whenever Jean talked to Mikasa, there was a nasty little voice in the back of Marco's head that wished Jean had never even met her. And sometimes, if they laughed about something hard enough or if they touched too much for his liking, it'd wish for much worse than that.

Jean had never seemed quite so funny and charming until somewhat recently, and Marco was struggling to understand it. Sure, he could be clever and wry and sometimes his words were very comforting, but lately it seemed like everything he said just had some sort of light to it. Some beautiful and indescribable essence that Marco couldn't get enough of, a charm that no one else could see. He wanted it floating through his ear canals and waltzing inside of his brains forever.

There was a lot Marco knew, and far more he didn't know, but if there was anything he felt in his very soul, anything that was burned into him deeper than even the most primal instincts, it was how much he loved Jean Kirstein. He just couldn't help it, it was absolute fact.

He was a little farther than many others already, which he was thankful for. At least he could tell Jean he loved him.

Just not how much, or in how many ways.

So for now, he'd just have to be content with that.

"I'm sorry for waking you up, Jean. I know school's in a few hours, right?"

"Mmm-hmm." Jean said, still stroking the base of one of Marco's horns. Marco was purring up quite a storm now.

"Just go back to sleep. You need your rest. I'll be fine." Marco gently told him.

"Sure?" Jean asked.

"Yes." Marco said

"I've been up in the damn deader-than-dead of the night for like two minutes… And I can tell you're lying." Jean said disapprovingly.

"I can handle it, I promise!" Marco argued.

"I've been asleep long enough." Jean said, as he lazily grabbed his iPhone 4 sitting on his nightstand and noted the time. "I'm gonna get you some warm milk, okay?"

"Jean, you really don't have to-" Marco started.

"Just because you can jump from like a hundred feet up and heal a smashed up arm in like thirty seconds, don't go thinking I'm not allowed to help you feel better." Jean said sternly, and Marco knew he was defeated. He was glad it was so dark and Jean only had human eyes, because he was starting to blush a little. Especially because he knew Jean could tell that even as he protested, he really did appreciate what he was doing… He just wished he didn't need to keep intruding into Jean's schedule with his problems.

It'd happened plenty of times before. Jean and Marco would just sit in the dark and hold hands and talk about pretty much whatever, sometimes Marco's problems, sometimes Jean's, and other times it was as if they didn't have any problems at all.

It was times like those when Marco wanted to come clean and dump all of his ever growing feelings for Jean out into the open, let Jean know just how important and amazing and wonderful and inspiring he was. He wanted to let him know that he was the most beautiful being Marco knew, and he sometimes wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to meet someone more beautiful.

But it just wasn't the time for that.

Especially not when Marco was constantly afraid that if he let all his feelings loose on Jean, then Jean would finally prove to be just too fragile.

He still had nightmares about the time when he had almost killed him, over six years ago, just because of a careless comment about his parents…

He got so close.

Jean's neck felt so fragile under his tough, wiry tendril, and his razor sharp claw. It could've been over that soon. That easily.

But there Jean was, nuzzled up against him at 4:30 AM, sipping warm milk with him and talking about all the feelings and things boys were always supposed to be "too tough" for. It almost felt like a miracle.

At 7:15 AM, Marco walked with Jean to catch the bus to Stohess Middle School, which was the town's go-to school for any kid either wealthy enough or smart enough.

Otherwise, you went to Trost Public Middle School.

People didn't like to talk about Trost Public. At least not positively.

If you asked most people; Marco was homeschooled. Which was technically kinda true, since he did like to help Jean with homework. Meanwhile, the other monster kids were actual students. How exactly they were was anyone's guess, and they were often absent. But despite not being enrolled, being in school undetected was easy for someone gifted with both shapeshifting and invisibility.

Jean sat next to Connie and Sasha on the bus, almost immediately getting pulled into a conversation about Naruto that lasted for the entire twenty minute long ride to school, while Marco hid in his backpack, disguised as a rat.

Jean's first period class was Natural Science, with an incredibly strange and eccentric teacher named Ms. Zoë. She often openly criticized and pointed out 'glaring flaws' in the facts presented by the school's textbooks, and she preferred to teach in a way that always seemed much too animated to be appropriate for so early in the morning. That wasn't even mentioning her neck tattoo. It was completely black and incredibly fine and detailed, mostly made up of symbols that held a suspicious similarity to the sort of things Jean had seen in books and on various objects from the monster world. Jean often wondered how she even got hired with it, especially because she wasn't really one to wear scarves or turtlenecks.

On top of that was the assistant teacher, Mr. Berner. Sometimes, he seemed to be more of a teacher than Ms. Zoë herself, often preventing her from performing unsafe experiments and getting her back on track when she went off on her infamously long and detailed tangents when she was supposed to be lecturing.

But the one thing he couldn't do anything about was Ms. Zoë's extremely adamant policies about gold. She was friendly, lenient and understanding about just about everything else, but for reasons she wouldn't clearly explain, no gold of any kind was allowed in her classroom. Even fake gold coatings and colorings seemed to make her uneasy.

If Ms. Zoë's strangeness wasn't enough, the classroom itself even gave off a very strange vibe, mostly due to Ms. Zoë's very wide collection of strange rocks, animal remains, and objects made with combinations of those things, housed with a wide variety of shelves and cabinets placed all around the perimeter of the classroom.

If Jean were being honest with himself, a lot of the animal remains looked unlike any earthly species. And at the same time, they looked much too realistic to be fakes…

Although there was one thing Jean liked about her, which was that she was apparently an accomplished horseback rider. She had all kinds of stories and knowledge about that, and they were basically the only ones Jean didn't mind hearing.

But overall, class that day was about as 'normal' as class with Ms. Zoë gets, and it was over soon enough.

* * *

><p>"So Armin, you think you know what kinds of monsters our teachers are yet?" Jean half-jokingly asked once they were out in the hallway, nudging Armin's shoulder playfully. Neither of them were stupid, there was pretty much no way most of their teachers were normal humans.<p>

"It's rude to just /assume/, Jean… I know it's possible, but honestly! If we do that, it's an insult to all these hard-working men and women!" Armin answered.

"Weren't you the first one to figure that this whole damn school is probably just a front for something completely different? Everyone and their mom talks about how sometimes it feels like this place watches you or something… And not just because of security cameras…" Jean said.

"They're probably all looking for that person…" Armin said. "I don't know why it is that they want to find that person so badly… but still…" Armin muttered. "I'm sure things will become more apparent with time." he finished, before turning off down a different hallway since they didn't share second period.

Jean's next period was gym, with Coach Zacharius. The blond, towering man seemed to spill physical fitness from every pore of his immense stature, all 196 well-built centimeters of it. Plenty of girls were big fans of him, and plenty of boys envied his build. Jean really resented the fact that his own opinion of the man seemed to be obstinately stuck somewhere in-between…

"Looks like it's time for class with your favorite teacher." Marco chimed teasingly, as he climbed out of Jean's deep jade backpack and up onto his shoulder, in the form of a small black mouse.

"I can't help that he's built like fucking Superman." Jean muttered lowly, scowling a little. "I don't have a crush on a weirdo like him, it's just that… y'know, he's hot…" Jean said quietly.

"Oh, so you're into manly men, is that it?" Marco teased a little more. After all, teasing was always a good way to mask jealousy.

"Dorks who are into superheroes are fine too." Jean said, nearly causing Marco to fall off of his shoulder.

"I… I but… Y-you… I… We…"

"Ha, just messing with you, man!" Jean answered.

"I'll… I'll gnaw a hole in your backpack…" Marco muttered half-heartedly, incredibly glad that his current form wasn't capable of blushing.

Stupid oblivious Jean.

Although Jean was telling the truth when he said that he didn't really have a full crush on Mr. Zacharius, there were a couple of other reasons he still took gym quite seriously. One was Mikasa, who was in his gym class with him. After six years of knowing her, she only seemed to be getting prettier, and it drove Jean absolutely crazy. At that point, trying to impress her was more like a subconscious habit than anything else. It'd become almost like a dog chasing its tail. He didn't even actually know what the hell he'd do if he did somehow succeed one day, and he wasn't even sure if he actually wanted to do anything anymore... but the other reason, on the other hand...

The other reason was Marco… and that was a different, more confusing reason entirely. He was strong, talented, smart, funny, and there were so many awesome things he could do… That Jean couldn't.

"Not like it bothers me or anything…" Jean thought out loud, as he ran laps around the gym with the rest of the class. He was still quite chubby, and even though they hadn't been going for too long, he was already getting a bit tired. He tried his best to hide it, hoping it wasn't too easily noticeable. Luckily, Marco was on the bleachers, playing games on Jean's iPhone as usual. He'd definitely ask what Jean was talking about, and Jean would really prefer not to go through the tricky and not-always-effective method for lying to a monster.

"At least nothing's chasing you this time." Eren said from beside him, with a smirk. He'd actually misinterpreted what was actually bothering Jean, but Jean wasn't about to correct him. Instead, he just scowled a little, since Eren was actually a full lap ahead of him, and had probably done it specifically to annoy him. Jean couldn't deny that Eren was in excellent shape, and was looking pretty good… at least in his human form.

"Nothing but my teenage angst." Jean responded dryly. "I have to admit it's better than giant spiders though."

"Well, if you hadn't tried to steal the egg sack…" Eren responded, with a tone like he was chiding an irresponsible child.

"You /dared/ me to steal it so you could use it for your stupid knitting… and then make the eggs into that disgusting ass caviar." Jean countered.

"It was DELICIOUS, and knitting is not stupid." Eren retorted.

"It is when you do it." Jean replied.

"I'll break your arm, you fucking used gumball."

"I'll glue you to the ceiling, naked."

Eren's voice suddenly became much lower, and Jean almost didn't hear him. "I'll tell Marco that you're just using your crush on Mikasa to hide-"

"I-I'm not hiding anything!" Jean hastily blurted out, nearly tripping in reaction to the words that came from Eren's mouth.

"He never should've told you how to lie to us… especially not with how much he trusts you anyway." Eren said. "But it should be so obvious anyway. I mean like, why else are you so fucking slow to make any moves on her? Whatcha waiting for, Jeanbo?" Jean was getting even sweatier than the jogging really justified at this point.

"Well, what about you and Armin?!" Jean snapped, desperate to throw Eren off some.

"Yeah, I like him, so?" Eren said, hardly missing a beat.

"_Damn monsters and their lenient-ass views on gender and sexuality_" Jean thought, but he wasn't going to give up just yet. "I-I'll tell him if you don't drop the subject!" Jean threatened.

"Then I can just tell Marco. You're still stuck, gumshoe."

"…That doesn't mean what you think it means." Jean pointed out.

"…English is a fucking disaster." Eren grumbled. "But seriously, Marco probably likes you back."

"But… that's… it'd be… I dunno…" Jean mumbled. "What if it doesn't work out…"

"I'm pretty sure you know everything about each other at this point. I mean come on, who loves him more than you?"

"Jesus." Jean replied with dry exasperation. It fit in more ways than one. "You're missing the point."

"You fed him, you took him in, you told him he'll always belong with you… He goes everywhere with you… I'm not that fucking stupid, Jean."

It was really a shame that at the point when Jean spoke next, not only were they pretty close to where Marco was on the bleachers, but Marco had just lost a round of Fruit Ninja, so his strong senses were no longer highly focused on the game. "Okay, fine, you win. I... I guess I really have... a crush on him." Jean begrudingly grumbled.

"_Him? Him?! Who's 'him'?! There's even more competition?! Does Jean really like the coach that much after all?!_" Marco's senses were now totally honed in on Jean and Eren's conversation, although he tried not to look like he was paying close attention.

"And it only took you six years to realize." Eren said.

Six years?! Six years?! There was someone Jean… Armin?! Was it Armin?! Was that it?! Or maybe even Connie! Marco knew his eyes were probably a bit red as he thought of it, but he didn't care.

"Yeah well, it's kinda weird to admit that when he's… y'know…"

"A monster." Eren finished simply.

A monster?! Reiner?! Bertholdt?! Oh, Jean, how could you ever possibly-

"And my best friend, too…" Jean mumbled somewhat shyly, but at this point Marco could nearly hear his heart beating, with how hard he was focusing.

A monster… his best friend… and… and Eren is right there?!

"Jean… likes… Jean… likes…." Marco thought, mind buzzing with sheer disbelief, spiraling with denial, oozing with doubt, desperately trying to come up with some other answer before it jumped to conclusions.

"No… that's… that's not possible! That's ridiculous! Why, of /all/ people, would Jean like… like… Me?"

Marco's soul shuddered and shook so powerfully within him that Jean couldn't help but turn around to check on him… And when he saw Marco, staring back at him, all four eyes fully exposed and rapidly flickering and mixing between colors like there was an inferno trapped behind them; Jean's heart practically fell into stomach. There was a sudden rush of terror roaring through his veins, like a gripping, icy storm to rival Marco's inferno.

"Pfft, what's wrong, got a cramp?" Eren asked teasingly, but Jean's answer completely changed his expression to pure, wide-eyed shock.

"Marco heard us." was all Jean managed to squeak out.

He felt like all the jogging in the world couldn't make his heart strong enough for what he knew was coming next.

* * *

><p><strong>Boy do I love cutting to the chase.<strong>

**Especially since I feel like for this kind of story, it should be more about the /experience/ in itself than a long series of will they/won't they**

**And trust me, there is still all kinds of shit for them to experience, while still dealing with unrelated plot shit, so this story is definitely still far from over**


	12. Chapter 12

**Ch 12**

Part of Jean was hoping Marco was too scared to come over to talk about it. He was hoping Marco would just laugh it off, assume he had misheard, and just be quiet about it until Jean was ready to tell him for real.

Of course, he knew it wouldn't happen the second he thought about it. Marco got up and started making his way over in no time, and Jean could feel even more sweat beading up on his face. And under his arms. And his chest. And back… and just… God, why'd he have to be overheard while he was so sweaty and gross? Weren't romantic confessions supposed to be sweet and amazing and wonderful and-

Marco nearly fell flat on his face on the way over, only to recollect himself and giggle sheepishly as he finished catching up with Jean, looking everywhere but directly at him. If Marco was so nervous that he could almost fall over thin air, then Jean wasn't sure how in the hell he was supposed to be calm either. He could hardly even jog in a straight line at this point. At least Eren was gracious enough to jog up to the front of the group, while Jean and Marco tailed along at the end.

"H-hey Jean…" Marco said quietly once he caught up, his cheeks incredibly dark as he spoke.

"U-uh… Uhm… I… I… Hi?" Jean answered, also very quietly, hoping that his awful attempt to play dumb could buy him some time. Not only did he have to deal with this, but he also had to deal with people potentially thinking he was crazy if he didn't keep his voice nearly inaudible.

"Jean, uh… w-were you… talking about me?" Marco asked.

"Haha… w-well, what about you?" Jean muttered.

"I… t-thought I might've… you know… heard something… Pretty important! Really important!" Marco explained, his eyes still bursting with every hue between red and yellow.

"Oh yeah? Eren and I were talking about that time with the giant spiders… And… stuff…" Jean said, which technically wasn't lying.

"….You said you have an uh… y-you have a crush on someone. You can tell me about that, right?" Marco asked; forcing a toothy grin.

"Oh, well, it's just…" Jean stopped, his face going quite red. "Just…"

"Weeell?"

"Just…"

"Take your time…" Marco said calmly, the friendly sympathy betraying the obvious fact that he wasn't stopping until Jean decided to open up.

"…Fine, you heard right, it's… It's you, okay?! God damn!" Jean said; his voice at a loud whisper. "Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm a big weirdo who has no idea what he's getting himself into and you probably don't feel the same way because I'm a human and you're you and I'm just me and you're just like wow and we'd just be like what while you're all woah and I'm all ugh and…" A couple kids glanced back at Jean for a moment, which sent even more redness into his cheeks, but Jean soon felt the quick yet comforting squeeze of Marco's hand against his.

"It's okay, Jean. It's… more than okay. I-I feel the same way!" Marco joyously responded. Jean wanted to be happy, he really did, but yet… Marco was… suddenly kinda glowing? And at the same time, the area around him was… darkening? The light seemed to seep out of his eyes and spread through his skin, then pool in his freckles, making them light up with a whitish green aura in his temporarily darker immediate surroundings. There was a very hot, forceful throb in Jean's chest that nearly left him breathless as a thick and very dense layer of darkness suddenly left Marco in an omnidirectional pulse, rapidly reaching the ends of the gym before disappearing. Jean felt a shiver go down his spine when he heard what seemed like the far-off, wretched shriek of a dying creature. And strangely enough, although it was just darkness, Jean could… Feel it, somehow. Gripping, tingly, uncomfortable yet vaguely familiar. It was even enough to make everyone stop in complete confusion for a moment. Jean wasn't sure what exactly went through Mr. Zacharius's mind when it happened, but it was apparently enough to make him blow his whistle and have everyone take a break for a moment while he went into his office for a few minutes. No one else seemed to comment on the noise, only the darkness itself.

"Uhhh, M-Marco? W-what was that?" Jean asked, as he wiped copious sweat off of his brow. Eren and Mikasa took advantage of the odd interruption to come over to the two, obviously wondering what was going on.

"Why did it get dark for a second?" Eren asked.

"Marco, what did you just do?" Mikasa asked.

"Nothing, guys, I'm just so happy about this! This is amazing! …This is… everything I ever wanted…" Marco cried, although his freckles had not stopped producing whitish green aura, which seemed to rise off of them like stringy trails of glowing smoke. Even his pupils seemed to be in on it, just bursting with that mint green light.

"But… you're glowing all weird all over? You never do that, it's usually just your eyes being really bright and yellow…" Jean pointed out.

"I don't know, and I don't care! It's just so great, you know?! I thought you'd never like me back, not in a million years! Not in a billion! It's a dream come true! A miracle!" Marco gushed, as the glowing suddenly sharply intensified in his chest. Light practically exploded out from beneath his shirt, seeming completely uninhibited by the thin green sweater he was wearing. It was so bright that the others had to look away, unsure what exactly was even happening.

"W-what the hell?!" Jean said louder than intended, as Marco started to giggle loudly, with genuine, infectious glee. Jean quickly realized that 'infectious' might have applied a little /too/ well to the situation when he and all of his classmates, even Mikasa, steadily started to giggle as well; many of them saying they had just remembered 'something really funny!'.

"Marco, haha… W-what are you doing, hahaha! What's going on?!" Jean asked, fighting back the urge to laugh.

"I don't think I've ever been this glad about anything!" Marco shouted. "Not since… Not since the day you met me and fed me and taught me how to play your video game…" he continued more shyly. The strange glow from his body was rapidly beginning to fade now.

"So the last thing that made you this happy still has to do with… me?" Jean said quietly. "Marco, why are you such a sap?" Jean grumbled.

"Because I have you." Marco responded, nearly causing Jean to fall over. Mikasa smiled ever-so-slightly, while Eren just muttered something about how he easily saw this coming.

"…Eren and Mikasa are watching, Marco..." Jean groaned; having never previously thought it was possible to get hot and bothered for so many reasons.

"Would you rather… uh, talk about this later?" Marco asked quietly.

"Y-yeah… but y'know… I'm… I'm really glad you like me back." Jean muttered, his face burning as he forced the words out of his mouth. Not that he didn't want to say them, but the whole experience was really taking a lot out of him… And what was with Eren looking so thoughtful all of the sudden? He practically never did that.

"…Marco, show me your soul. Right now… Before you guys make me throw up." Eren told him with mild exasperation.

"Huh? …Okay, sure." Marco said, as he reached into his chest and pulled out his soul… although Jean wasn't exactly used to the whole process, that mild discomfort was easily overridden by the fact that Marco's soul definitely wasn't the same as Jean remembered. The deep lime green had become a secondary color, now just little snaking swirls and streams against a sphere of light mint green, along with tiny rivulets of sparkling golden brown. It floated just above Marco's cupped hands; continually emitting a slowly swirling, smoky aura full of miniscule specks of twinkling light, in various light greens and browns. The writhing tendrils were gone, replaced with a spherical cage of longitudinal lines around the soul. Paradoxically, the whole thing seemed to make its immediate surroundings quite dark, as if it drew all the light into itself; giving it an odd yet quite remarkable glow-in-the-dark effect.

"W-when did this happen?!" Marco said with a start, as he carefully examined it from all angles. "I-Is this really mine?!"

"Well, a soul usually changes over time, but when something that's super important to you happens… Sometimes…" Eren said, motioning to the soul to as a way of finishing the thought.

"It's so pretty…" Marco said with hushed awe.

"It did that just because I said I like you?" Jean asked. "If that isn't the biggest fucking cliché of the century…" he said, before pausing and and looking away for a moment. "…It is really pretty though…" he quietly admitted.

"Well, if it matters enough to someone, anything can cause it." Mikasa said. "Even if we all knew already…"

"Gonna pretend I didn't hear that last part…" Jean responded.

Mikasa got one step closer to Jean and spoke again. "Even if we all knew already." she repeated, somewhat more loudly.

"Oh boy, we got ourselves a comedian here…" Jean mumbled dryly. Marco was too busy examining his own soul to offer any opinion of his own. Jean was almost glad, he'd probably go along with Mikasa if anything. Now that he'd confirmed how Jean felt, he hardly seemed embarrassed at all, really.

"Come on, Mikasa, let's leave the new lovenewts alone…" Eren said with a snigger. Mikasa just nodded and followed him away from the two boys… which allowed Jean to inadvertently get caught up in looking at Marco instead of them.

The only thing Jean found particularly weird about Marco standing there with a glowing, floating ball that came from inside of his chest was that he didn't actually find it all that weird. If anything, it was kind of cute. Despite looking outwardly human, Marco was so giddy that the smile he gave Jean was still too wide, with teeth that were much too sharp. Jean wasn't exactly sure how and when his opinion of it switched from 'unnerving' to 'adorable', but it had definitely happened.

"_When the hell did you get so cute?" _Jean wondered, realizing just a second too late that he had actually mumbled it out loud… and he was standing near someone with fantastic hearing.

"Y-you think I'm cute?!" Marco said, suddenly turning away from his soul and shoving it back in his chest as his cheeks became much darker.

"…Well, that's… that's part of liking you…" Jean forced himself to quietly admit. Sometimes he really hated how difficult it was to lie to Marco.

"Jean!" Marco cried happily. Jean automatically tensed a little the moment he saw Marco's knees bend, but it was too late.

The next thing Jean knew, he had been accidentally pushed on the gym floor, and he was getting hugged like life depended on it. Knowing it'd probably be even more awkward to actually return the hug, he just focused on ignoring all the butterflies in his stomach long enough to come up with an explanation for why he suddenly and dramatically fell during gym class while pretty much standing still, in case anyone asked.

On the other hand, "Oh no reason, just got hugged by my new invisible boyfriend…_" _sounded so utterly ridiculous that it could ironically work on its own.

* * *

><p>The school day seemed to pass by in a daze after that. Jean had seen far more than most humans his age, and managed to bluff and keep up a good masquerade through most of it. Yet here he was, feeling like he was walking high up on a road of sweet, golden, fluffy clouds at sunset; breathing nothing but sunbeams and stardust, just because of what had happened in gym class.<p>

…But _Jean Kirstein_, of all people,was feeling this way…

So of course, there were bound to be people who noticed.

"Hey Jean, what happened to you since this morning, huh?!" Sasha asked a couple of hours later, at lunch. She, Jean, Connie, Eren, Mikasa, and Armin always sat together around a lunch table in the leftmost corner of the cafeteria, which also made them the closest ones to the pizza line. That was definitely Sasha's decision. She'd become a bit chubby after six years, and pizza had always been one of her favorite things. "Come ooon~" Sasha cooed, leaning forward over the table and giving Jean a mischievous, knowing grin. "Something happened~ I know it did~"

"N-nothing happened... Not really…" Jean poorly lied, suddenly wishing his lunch weren't already finished. Stuffing his face with something would've been an excellent way to dodge the question.

"You had this big dopey grin on your face after gym class… and in History, you kept breaking out in of those dumb grins the entire class. I bet you barely even heard anything Ms. Banana said." Sasha teased. Jean was promptly yanked down from his nice little warm road of clouds and into a big, cold, slimy pot of embarrassment stew.

"It's /Nanaba/." Armin corrected, for the umpteenth time since they'd been attending that school.

"That's /boring/." Sasha responded, miming his tone. "Anyway, Armin, this is your chance! Use your super genius detective power to figure out what he's hiding! Make him crack!" Sasha said.

"That's… That's not even how it works!" Armin cried.

"But Armin. Dude. Buddy. Arm. Arm & Hammer. Armalarm. Army-Schmarms." Sasha said.

"If you call me that last one again, you're going to have to seek help elsewhere." Armin curtly interjected.

"I caught a shiny Shinx last night~ He'd look pretty great on your team if you just help me out a little~" Sasha brought up; waggling her eyebrows at Armin.

"You were gonna give him to ME!" Connie complained. Sasha just winked at him.

"…Alright… But this isn't gonna be easy." Armin said, taking a deep breath and pausing dramatically before continuing. "We'll start with the eyes. Judging by the spacey, glazed over look to them, it is fair to say that he has probably received very profound, shocking information today." Armin said. Literally everyone else at the table but Jean nodded firmly. To Jean himself, this was unbelievable. His friends were about to pick him apart like practical psychology majors, and his emotions were far too obvious to make any convincing protests.

"Furthermore… his behavior! Whatever news he has received, it must have surely been positive! His posture and his walk have been noticeably more confident and carefree as of late… And normally, Jean is quite careful! But today, on his way to this very spot, he tripped on a smashed grape!" Armin pointed out. More surprisingly serious nods from all around.

"Objection!" Jean cried. "I _stumbled. _There is a _difference."_

"Overruled. Your correction is both pedantic and an obvious attempt to stall the proceedings." Armin countered.

"Oooh, shut _down_." Connie said. Jean scowled.

"In addition… given the aforementioned 'dopey grins' the prosecutor claims to have seen on the defendant's face… I would have to say that these are matters of the heart we're talking about. _Serious _matters." Armin stated. More serious nods. Jean just buried his face in his hands.

"This is _stupid._" Jean moaned.

"No speaking out of turn in a court of law, Mr. Kirstein!" Armin said, as if they were taking part in the most serious thing in the world.

"Fucking kangaroo court is what it is." Jean grumbled lowly.

"Mr. Kirstein!" Armin cried, before clearing his throat in a very business-like manner. "As I was saying. We have our dear friend Mikasa Ackerman here with us today, perhaps she can shed some light on the situation for us." Armin said. "Miss Ackerman, did you witness anything out of the ordinary happening to Mr. Kirstein in second period, physical education today?"

"He got an e-mail from Marco and now they're boyfriends. Who's surprised? Literally no one." Mikasa said flatly. The blatant half-lie was covered up with the fact that Mikasa said it with minimal emotion, while also joking, in her own Mikasa sort of way.

"Oh yeah… I guess he does have an e-mail address… That makes sense." Connie said. "Who woulda thought… Jean Kirstein, going for peen…_Except all of us, because he has skirts and dresses and shaves his legs._" Connie quickly mumbled the last part just loudly enough for the others to hear him. Jean didn't exactly appreciate how rich and noisy the resulting laughter from Eren and Sasha was.

"I hate you." Jean responded simply.

"But seriously?! You and Marco, you're-" Sasha started.

"I guess so…" Jean mumbled. There was no use in denying it now. Especially because his… new boyfriend… was currently a rat napping inside of his backpack. "_God, imagine saying that out loud…" _Jean dryly thought to himself.

"Awwwwwww! Are you excited to go home and see him?!" Sasha said.

"More like terrified, but okay sure." Jean answered.

"Awwww! You need someone like him, honestly. He's perfect for putting up with you!" Sasha said.

"What's that supposed to mean?! I'm perfectly tolerable!" Jean snapped.

"…There… aren't a ton of people around here that would… appreciate your quirks, if you know what I mean… God, did that come out wrong?" Sasha said worriedly. Jean's eyes widened a bit when he understood what she was getting at. With half of his friends being from or knowing about a dimension where gender and sexuality was far looser, sometimes he really did almost forget. Almost.

"Yeah, I see what you're saying. But it just makes me more awesome, because my love life is actually going somewhere while you're all stuck in Singletown~" Jean bragged.

"The group's biggest asshole with one of the nicest people I know… How iconic…" Eren muttered.

"Ironic." Armin immediately corrected without missing a beat. He was completely used to it, after all.

"Yeah, that." Eren lazily replied.

"Takes one to know one." Jean responded.

"I'm gonna cut off all your fingers and toes some day." Eren growled back.

"Exactly my point." Jean replied.

"Remember what we talked about, Eren." Mikasa said with a steely gaze that seemed to stop Eren in his tracks.

"Yeah Eren, listen to your mom!" Connie teased.

Mikasa's head instantly turned to look at Connie, and her voice was calm yet carrying a silent, implacable authority when she spoke. "Don't."

"I'm sorry." Connie immediately replied, his voice suddenly far smaller and less confident.

Jean (somehow) managed to survive the rest of the embarrassing conversation and get through the rest of the school day. Once the bus ride home was over, he and Marco successfully pulled off their usual routine of Marco acting like he had walked over to meet Jean from a different direction, and not just been with him the entire time.

But even though the walk home was literally less than five minutes long, they almost immediately ran into a minor issue.

* * *

><p>"…It's still alright to hold hands, right?" Marco asked quietly, his hand awkwardly hovering just a centimeter or two away from Jean's.<p>

"…I don't see why not." Jean said, although suddenly his mind was wracked with doubt for reasons he wasn't completely sure of.

"I just… things are a little different now, and uh, what if it… What if it means something else now?!" Marco asked.

"Like what? What does that even mean?!" Jean replied.

"I don't know, I was asking you!" Marco cried. "Nevermind… I'm just being dumb."

"No, you're not, just- let's just hold hands." Jean said.

"…Should we swing them?" Marco asked, as he hesitantly linked Jean's hand with his. Jean never remembered hand-holding feeling so warm and tingly, but maybe that was just because it was chilly outside.

"I dunno, just… act natural?" Jean suggested.

"I literally do things that are impossible according to human science every day, how do I act natural?!" Marco responded.

"Just think calming, happy things!" Jean responded.

"Like stuff about you?" Marco asked.

"Ye… wait, what?" Jean nearly tripped on thin air. "I… I didn't mean like that!" Jean whined.

"But you make me happy." Marco asserted, causing blood to rush to Jean's face.

"…So do I." Jean responded absentmindedly, too nervous to think straight.

"What?!" Marco cried, trying not to laugh.

"…You know what I meant…" Jean mumbled.

"Yeah… still funny though." Marco said.

Jean sighed in exasperation and did his best re-compose himself. "How am I even going to tell my parents about you…" Jean muttered, before beginning to mockingly simulate how the conversation would go. "Oh hey Mom, hey Dad, listen, you know how you've been saying I can do whatever I want as long as I'm happy and love whoever I want as long as I'm happy? Well, it turns out I'm dating Marco now! And oh, get this! He's actually a supernatural being from another dimension, and every couple of days I have to let him feed on my fear! Isn't that something?!" Jean finished with a forced smile and a nervous chuckle.

"Well, they already think they've met 'my parents' and been over 'my house'… So you could just say I'm a regular human boy..." Marco said.

"…I can't believe I helped you come up with convincing fake memories to put in my own parents." Jean responded with a sigh.

"It was for a good cause." Marco reassured him. "I like to be able to actually talk to them and ask for things sometimes… Even though it is still sort of creepy…"

"…Honestly, it kind of is. But hey, do what you gotta do, right?" Jean said.

"I guess so…" Marco agreed, before the conversation was interrupted by a long, pitiful whining noise, coming from some nearby bushes. It sounded like it was made by a small dog. They were only a minute or two away from home now, but the noise quickly became too much to resist when they saw an odd, moving vine peek out from underneath the bushes. "…Be careful." Marco said to Jean, who just nodded in reply.

The two boys crept closer to the bushes, and Jean was ready for anything. Had something snuck into Earth? Was this a malevolent stranger, here for unknown reasons? Hell, maybe it could even be-

Marco quickly thrust his hands into the bush, and there was another loud whine and a familiar squeal of surprise and panic. "D-don't do that, you'll mess up my concentration!" came the timid cry of Bertholdt's voice.

"…Bertholdt?" Jean asked.

"What are you doing to the puppy?!" Marco cried. Sure enough, there was a very battered and dirty little German Shephard puppy curled up in Bertholdt's arms. Bertholdt himself was huddled up in the shade of the bush, with an oversized coat draped over him to block out light even further. But more importantly… his entire body was various shades of green and brown. His torso seemed to be made entirely of moist, flexible, partially moss-covered wood, while his arms appeared to be made from many compacted vines. His head was largely made up of rough, jagged wood, with small woody antlers branching out on either side. His face was grass green, and much more supple and flexible. Various small leaves and flowers of inconsistent species sprouted at random from his body, like someone had just haphazardly tossed a handful of assorted seeds on him and they'd all started to grow. He had four eyes set just like the eyes of other monsters, colored a deep, shining emerald green. While his left hand was much like a human's; besides being green with sharp, sturdy, wooden claws; his right hand was currently just a formless mass of extremely thin, pulsating vines; stuck in the puppy's mouth, nose, and a large, bloody rip in its side.

"Oh god, are you eating it or something?!" Jean cried. He briefly wondered to himself just how used to this kind of life he had to be if his initial reaction to this wasn't to scream incoherently, but to ask whether or not something was getting digested from the inside out.

"N-no, I'm healing her, a-and you should be quiet before I mess it up!" Bertholdt cried.

"You can do that?!" Jean cried.

"I'm a nature spirit, I'd definitely hope so! Me accused of eating a domestic dog! Me! I-I'd never! I'm not that kind of person! Even if I were, I definitely wouldn't be partaking in that kind of behavior out here relatively in the open where anyone, much like you two, could easily stumble upon me and discover me doing something like that. I have standards, principals to uphold, and that is not the kind of life I would wish to lead under any circumstances if I were to be completely honest with-"

"Calm down!" Jean interrupted.

"S-sorry… I just… the dog was run over… and many of the organs were on the verge of failure… So many destroyed nerve endings… Rib cage completely smashed… This is a difficult one…" Bertholdt said. "Ahh… c-could you two please just go home maybe perhaps? I need to concentrate, Annie will be so upset if I don't fix this correc-"

"…Wait… Annie told you to do this?" Jean said, as he passed through the bushes to crouch down and face Bertholdt.

"I-It's not like I wouldn't have wanted to try anyway, but she found it first and she gave it to me and she had this look in her eyes… So I knew I had to." Bertholdt said. Jean watched with bile fascination as the puppy's skin squirmed and twitched with its flesh being infiltrated by hundreds of thousands of branching vines. "I even have to reconstruct the capillaries, which is really tedious, but if Annie likes it… I guess it's worth it…" Bertholdt explained. "And the biology of this dog is so fragile and odd… I'm afraid to produce too many things, I might trigger an allergic reaction or make its condition worse…"

"What does Annie want with a puppy?" Marco asked with a slight frown and tilt of his head.

"She-" Bertholdt started, before apparently noticing something behind Jean and Marco and tensing up.

"None of your business." Annie suddenly said, from several meters behind Jean and Marco. She had a white hoodie on with the hood up, but even that didn't fully mask her unnatural glittering, if you looked hard enough. "How's the dog?" she asked Bertholdt.

"I'm going to need at least a couple more hours…" Bertholdt said.

"Is the condition stable enough for you to bring her to my room?" Annie asked.

Bertholdt seemed to perk up somewhat when he heard that. "O-oh, yes, of course… She should make a full recovery!" Annie simply nodded approvingly, but even that was enough for Bertholdt to smile a little.

"What, are you gonna fatten the dog up and eat it later or something?" Jean asked.

"What's with you and thinking we eat dogs…" Bertholdt responded tiredly.

"Or it could be a reason that actually _isn't _awful. How about that, Jean, did you ever think of that?" Annie answered impatiently.

"…You… like dogs?" Jean said. "I expected a giant tortoise, or an earth elemental, or some other weird shit."

"…I just think it's hypocritical of your species to breed animals for companionship and then abandon them." Annie said.

"…So you're healing an animal from the brink of death, _just_ to have a furry little friend?" Jean asked incredulously.

"I can make everything you do sound unthinkable too if _I _say it in an accusatory and demeaning tone." Annie answered. "For example: Jean Kirstein,_breathing? _Let me fix that." Annie said coldly, before extending long, clear crystalline claws just long enough for Jean to notice them, then just sighing expectantly as Jean jumped back in surprise and Marco hissed at her.

"…Did I hurt your feelings or something?" Jean asked. He still had part of her soul, but it was… somewhat difficult to tell, to say the least. She mostly just seemed irritated, which was already obvious.

"Let's go, Bertholdt." Annie said flatly, before turning around and leaving without another word. Bertholdt hurriedly caught up, after hastily opening up a hole full of thin, writhing vines in his chest and relocating the puppy into it before closing the hole up and hiding his body with his oversized coat.

"…Well, that wasn't disturbing at all…" Jean blatantly lied.

"They weren't lying…" Marco said. "…Let's just go home, I guess…"

"…Marco, how bad are they, exactly? I mean, I trust your judgment and everything, but-"

"They're here to find someone and kill them, Jean! Did you forget?" Marco said.

"No, but… How hard are they even trying?" Jean asked. "Does it really take this long to find one kid? Do they really even /want/ to find who they're 'looking' for?" Jean said.

"I bet they're just waiting for genuine proof. Some kind of supernatural accident, or something…" Marco said.

"…Or maybe they're... not really like that?" Jean cautiously asked. "I'm not usually that optimistic, but… something just doesn't seem right. I haven't heard of them doing a single thing wrong… They don't even get in fights at school. I've been in four. "

"They just want you to put your guard down…" Marco said quietly. "…Can't we just go home?"

"Alright, okay, I'm just saying… Maybe you should give them a chance?" Jean suggested, as they linked hands again and resumed their walk home.

"…I'm afraid." Marco quietly admitted.

"Aren't you stronger than them?" Jean asked.

"…If I do _that._" Marco said. Jean didn't need any help recognizing what Marco meant. "I don't want to do _that. _I don't like it._"_

Jean just nodded in understanding, and decided it was better to be quiet for a little while.

* * *

><p>When Jean made it home, unlocked his front door, and went inside, he was immediately a bit suspicious of his surroundings. Dad was supposed to be home today, and yet, everything was quiet… Too quiet.<p>

Jean cautiously took his shoes off and started to make his way towards the stairs on the opposite side of the room… But in the process, he had to pass a doorway that led to the dining room. Just a moment too late, Jean realized his dad was hiding behind that wall. Although he did quickly fall to the floor, Jean wasn't quite fast enough… His father was already in the doorway, with a gun in hand. And that was when Jean got shot by his own father, in mid-fall…

It was a nerf gun, of course.

"Dad, seriously, this again?!" Jean cried as he stood back up and threw the nerf dart at his dad. "I'm getting too old for this!"

"Sounds like the exact excuse a sore loser would use." Jean's father said with a smirk. "How was school, son?" Mr. Kirstein asked.

"No old geezers thought it'd be funny to shoot at me, but I did… have an… interesting day…" Jean started, as he steadily sat down on the couch. The sooner he fessed up the better, right?

"Why don't you explain more about that?" Mr. Kirstein said, as he set the nerf gun down on the living room table and took a seat on the couch. Jean swallowed hard. It was all or nothing. The perfect chance.

"I… got an A on a math quiz! I hardly even studied! Pretty great, right?" Jean lied with a nervous chuckle. Nothing. This was harder than he expected.

"For a minute, I thought you were going to say you asked Mikasa out! You definitely had that sort of look in your eye…"

"Did not!" Jean said defensively. Apparently it was 'point out Jean being obvious' day, except no one else told him.

"Or maybe it was-" Mr. Kirstein started.

"It wasn't like that, Dad! It wasn't anyone!" Jean cried. Marco invisibly frowned a little.

"Oh, really? So you aren't going to follow in my footsteps and become a Mr. Ackerman soon?" Mr. Kirstein said. "Or maybe even a Mr. Bo-"

"Dad, shut up!" Jean cried, his cheeks now burning. "Just because you're some weirdo who took Mom's last name-"

"Well, is this weirdo getting close?!" Mr. Kirstein interrupted, his eyes wide with childlike excitement.

"Not even a little!" Jean cried, although he felt Marco's soul sink in his chest a little… He /was/ technically right behind him, after all.

"My son… he's growing up so fast…" Mr. Kirstein said, briefly pretending he was about to cry. "Thirteen years old and already on his way to being a heartbreaker…"

"What makes you think I'll break his heart?!" Jean cried without thinking. He immediately blanched and wished he could erase memories too.

"…I knew I'd get it outta you." Mr. Kirstein said with a devious smirk. "Your old man has been around the block plenty of times, Jeanbo. He's as sharp as a tack, y'know?"

"…Alright, alright, okay, so like… i-is it okay?" Jean said nervously, as he looked towards the ground and balled his fists. "You're okay with him, right? I mean, he's never mean to me… and he's smart… a-and you've met him and everything…" Jean said.

"Don't even worry about that! Of course I'm fine with it! I just wish someone would've told me about all this when I was a kid…"

"Pfft, what, like a hundred years ago?" Jean teased, causing his father to laugh a little.

"Sure Jean, that's right… a hundred years ago. Could you imagine? Me, living without TV? Without Star Wars?!" Jean's father asked with a laugh, as he motioned to the tall, glass-doored cabinet next to the wide-screen TV facing the couch, stocked with a wide variety of Star Wars figurines and merchandise. And that wasn't even all of it.

"Okay, so you're a hundred-year-old kid then. That just means you liked whatever nerdy stuff there was back then." Jean reasoned.

"Fair enough." Mr. Kirstein said. "Now, why don't you tell me more about how you and Marco-"

"I just remembered!" Jean said, suddenly standing bolt upright. "I have sooo much homework! Like, all the homework!" Jean continued, already nearing the stairs. "Man, I should reaaalllly get going on all those luscious piles of homework okayDadseeyabye." Jean finished, before quickly dashing up the stairs. Marco followed him, quietly giggling as he went.

"Oh, son…" Mr. Kirstein quietly said to himself, as he picked up the TV remote and cut the TV on with a small smile. "…You try so hard to keep things secret… Guess I might as well keep humoring you."

* * *

><p><strong>I GAVE THE BOY A NICE FATHER. I GAVE THE BOY A NICE FATHER BECAUSE GODDAMNIT, THE BOY DESERVES A NICE FATHER.<strong>

**(seriously, i've hardly seen anything where jean's father isn't either nonexistent or somehow disapproving/overly critical of him)**

**Although at this point his introduction is basically just to lay groundwork for his relevance later on... Said relevance would also give insight as to why he's so accepting of things. (plus I fully admit I didn't want to make a story where homphobia is a major recurring obstacle because fuck that, I could be writing about vine-hands and weird floaty technicolor souls.) Basically, this chapter in general introduces a bunch of things/ideas.**

**Also: chubby Sasha is life.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Ch 13**

Jean sighed in relief as he slipped into his room, then immediately closed the door as quickly as he possibly could without slamming it once Marco was inside. For good measure, he channeled some of his soul through his hand and ran it down the outer edge of the door, effectively supergluing it shut until he felt like removing it. Avoiding dicey questions from a rather nosy and annoyingly perceptive father was always a bit stressful, but at least he could always rely on this particularly handy trick

"Why couldn't my parents just be like the clueless ones in books and TV shows who never notice anything ever?" Jean grumbled in exasperation.

"Because your life isn't a TV show or a book." Marco answered simply, as he walked over to Jean's bed and sat down.

"Pfft. Yeah. More like a sub-par fanfic." Jean joked. "Written by some dumpy teenager with too much free time and not enough social life." Jean continued as he made his way to his closet to start looking for something to wear besides his school clothes… Maybe a skirt would be nice, if none of his friends decided to barge in…

"Maybe someone would read it and make a theory about how I don't really exist and this is all just a coma dream you're having. It seems like someone always does that." Marco brought up.

"Pfft, like the hypothetical author would have enough brain cells to do something like that in the first place." Jean responded while rifling through his closet.

"Oh come on, Jean." Marco said, suddenly switching to English.

"I don't like where this is going." Jean said with a leery glance back at Marco, noticing the sudden switch.

"I bet they're an…"

"Marco no don'-"

"All-write person." Marco said, before starting to giggle like a small child.

"OH MY GOD." Jean loudly protested, which only made Marco laugh harder. "I'm just gonna ignore you now. You are officially on time out from getting any attention from me." Jean said with a firm, final tone, before he started to unbutton his jeans and suddenly froze in place. "…Actually, first, could you turn around for a little while?" Jean quietly asked, a small blush forming on his face.

"Why?" Marco asked, genuinely a bit confused. "It's not like I haven't seen you in your underwear...".

"But we're… like… different than friends now…" Jean continued awkwardly, his blush growing.

There was a brief pause, and then a burst of scarlet red in Marco's eyes "...OH!". "I… I'm not going to do anything weird! B-but if you really want me to turn around, then it's fi-"

"…But don't you want to see?" Jean muttered without really thinking. He immediately chided himself for sounding so _upset _while he was at it, and a hot wave of regret and embarrassment soon followed. He had no idea what this whole 'new boyfriend' thing was doing to his brain, but did it /really/ have to make him say things like that?!

"…Well, y-yeah, but you said you didn't want me to and that's way more important, right?" Marco asked.

"Yeah but-" Jean muttered, while sincerely wishing he'd never said anything at all. "…You could've argued a little…" Jean hesitanty continued. What was he even saying?!

"…So you don't want me to look but you want me to argue that I should be able to?" Marco asked in utter confusion. "…Are you worried that if I don't I must think you're ugly?"

"…I-I don't know. Nevermind. You know, it's just… whatever." Jean said, redness surging into his cheeks. He was feeling less intelligent by the second, especially because Marco had basically just put the odd feeling into words. Figuring his embarrassment was pretty much capped already, and seeking a distraction, Jean rapidly put on black sweatpants and a grey t-shirt.

"…As gorgeous as you are, you're kinda weird sometimes." Marco said with a gentle smile and a laugh. "…I should be the one who's insecure…"

"I-I'm not-" Realizing he was about to tell a lie so obvious that a human toddler would know; let alone Marco, Jean changed the focus. "You've got nothing to be ashame-" Jean once again started over. Marco was by no means a normal child… not even by a monster's standard. Flat generalities weren't exactly going to cut it. "…I think it's okay for us to be a little insecure." Jean said.

"…I could hurt you…" Marco said quietly.

"Anyone could hurt anyone! It's just a part of life!" Jean pointed out.

"I could hurt you _worse _than them. _More easily_." Marco continued.

"I trust you." Jean said quietly, trying his best to be comforting. "Plus, you know I'm tougher than most people. That power I got after I met your father has helped me loads of times… You've seen how tough I can make that soul-stuff." Jean reminded Marco.

"…I'm pretty sure it motivates you to pick more fights, too…" Marco pointed out with a slight frown.

"Okay but if you could go into any fight with all the jerks, bullies, and scrubs in town and you're basically guaranteed to win-"

"…_Jean."_ Marco said quietly, as he extended, swung, and retracted a single tendril so quickly it made a whipping noise, to get the point across.

"…Oh god, I'm… wow. I didn't mean it like that… I'm really sorry…" Jean said after an awkward pause, realizing just a moment too late that having enough unholy might to destroy damn there anything, let alone just some regular school bullies, was exactly what Marco was scared of.

"…I know you're just trying to help." Marco said with a patient smile.

"Well what I was _trying _to eventually get at was just… I think we'll be okay." Jean said, as he sat next to Marco on the bed and gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

"I hope so." Marco responded quietly, as he leaned against Jean a little.

"Don't you want to drop the disguise?" Jean asked. "You still look human." He pointed out.

"…Only if you scratch my head." Marco replied.

"…Uh… sure…" Jean said quietly, as Marco's human form twisted and faded away, revealing Marco in his fully undisguised state. Steadily, he got on his side and put his head in Jean's lap, allowing Jean to gently begin massaging the bases of his long, yellow horns. He was tense at first, hesitant and very deliberate as he adjusted his position on Jean's thighs. But when Jean's fingers gently traced along the base of a horn and then began lightly scratching at Marco's scalp, a rumbling, gurgling purr soon followed. Marco's entire body relaxed almost immediately, his tendrils hanging limply over the edge of the bed and his spiracles whistling quietly with each exhalation. "Don't drool this time." Jean said in a lightly teasing way, smiling a little as Marco's entire body vibrated like he were an extremely odd cat.

"I wooon'ttt…" Marco slurred out, already becoming lost in the relaxing sensation. "You're sooo good at thisss…." Marco continued in his dazed, blissful state. Jean just blushed slightly as he continued, enjoying the warmth of Marco's body and the texture of his hair as he gently scratched and massaged the sensitive area around his horns. Things continued quietly for a while, with Marco slipping further and further into the pleasurable daze, at least until Jean noticed something odd.

Particularly, something smelled… oddly good. It was faint at first, mildly fruity but also sort of smoky. He couldn't really place it, he'd never exactly smelled anything like it before. He briefly wondered if he'd left some kind of food or drink laying around, but it smelled too good for that, too distinct. Jean wanted to get up and look harder for whatever it could be, but at the same time, he didn't want to ruin Marco's relaxation. Regardless, whatever the scent was, it persisted. It became sweeter and more nuanced, deeper and more layered with each passing moment. Jean took a deep, contented breath, and the scent seemed to melt his worries away, causing a pleasant tingle to spread through his body and his lips to curve upwards ever so slightly. The scent was strong, pervasive, yet gentle and soothing, with so many tiers of pleasure, but no one aspect of it was too strong. It was perfectly balanced in every regard; like some kind of exotic flower mixed with the scent of fresh cut grass, a rainy day, a dash of nutmeg, and several other things that were pleasant but very difficult for Jean to accurately place.

Jean looked around curiously for a moment, searching for what the source of the wonderful aroma… But after a moment, Jean looked down at Marco and realized the answer was most likely literally right beneath his nose. "…Are you doing this, Marco?" Jean asked, getting no actual response since Marco was so deep in his daze. Instead, Marco just began to emit tiny mint green motes of light, filling the air around him and floating about like tiny fireflies. "…Marco?" Jean asked again, shaking his shoulder slightly.

He almost wished he hadn't, because once Marco's eyes opened and he remembered where he actually was, he blushed an incredibly dark green and immediately sat bolt upright. The smell and the light faded away very quickly, much faster than Jean would've liked.

"I-I'm-I'm uh… I'm really sorry about that!" Marco stammered.

"…What was there to be sorry about?" Jean asked in confusion. If anything, he was only upset that it was over. "I never knew you could do anything like that…"

"You don't understand! You don't understand what that _meant!" _Marco cried, as he hid his face in his hands and looked away from Jean.

"…Huh?" Jean asked.

"…Okay, so, uh, a little while after I turned 13, when you weren't around, Ilse's journal… uh… you know… She turned sapient again for a little while… a-and uh, well, she gave me… 'the talk'…" Marco explained, his body tense and his face full of worry and embarrassment.

"…So what are you getting at?" Jean asked. "As long as it doesn't mean one of us is somehow pregnant or something weird like that…" Jean said, making a face. Learning new things about Marco or his body often meant that pretty much any possibility had to be considered, whether he liked it or not.

"…N-no but… It's basically…l-like… when you really really like someone and they make you feel all safe and happy and stuff… Your body, uh…"

"…I… wait, what?" Jean asked, not yet fully understanding.

Marco sharply inhaled. "…It's a mating display. To impress you… and relax you… and help… put you in…the _mood._" he mumbled.

"So you-"

"My _body!"_ Marco immediately corrected.

"…So you're basically saying you wanted to…"

"I'm so, so, so sorry…" Marco muttered, even going so far as to significantly shrink in size as he hid his face from Jean.

"…So the point is to make me want to fuck you?" Jean asked.

"Why'd you have to say it like that?!" Marco shrieked, before shrinking even smaller, all the way down to a pillbug.

"Because that's basically what you told me?" Jean replied, before carefully leaning over and putting his ear just over the tiny curled up pillbug that was his boyfriend.

"_It's so embarrassing! I didn't even want to, it just happened!" _came a tiny squeal.

"So it's kinda like your whole body having an extremely obvious but less disturbing and more impressive boner?" Jean asked.

"_Don't compare my shame to you and your human sexual organs!" _came Marco's miniscule voice.

"…'You and your human'…. Wait, do you even have a penis?" Jean asked.

"_JEEEAAANNN!" _Marco squeaked as loudly as the small body would allow.

"…Well, do you?" Jean continued; holding back the urge to laugh.

"…_Wouldn't you like to know." _Marco responded shortly.

"Now you're just being difficult." Jean answered, with exasperation creeping into his voice.

"_I'll explain everything you want to know soon. I promise. But can we PLEASE stop talking about this for now?!" _Marco begged.

"…Fine, just-"

"Jean! Connie is here!" came the voice of his dad from downstairs. And judging by the sound of things, he'd actually already let Connie in. Which wasn't anything new, but it definitely wasn't convenient.

"Quick, quick, change back!" Jean ordered Marco, as he quickly backed away and went to the door to unglue it in anticipation of Connie's arrival. Marco complied, shifting into human form just a couple of seconds before Connie reached Jean's room.

"Yo, Jean!" Connie said, barging right in as Jean did his best to act like nothing was unusual. "…Oooohh, your _boyfriend _is here~" Connie said, snickering at Marco.

"Yeah, yeah, get it all out of your system…" Jean grumbled, trying his best to hide any embarrassment. He didn't think he was doing a very good job.

"Anyway… wanna come to my house and watch CSI? It's gonna be me, Sunny, Martin, and Sasha… Grandma's the only adult home right now, and she says it's fine. And we have chips and popcorn…. and mustard." Connie said, glancing at Marco as he said 'mustard'. "I still don't know why the hell you like mustard on your popcorn, Marco…"

"It's the way of the future." Marco responded matter-of-factly. Connie just briefly grimaced in reply.

"Way to plan this so carefully, you texted me and told me about it in school and everything…" Jean said. His voice was rife with sarcasm.

"Well excuse me, it wasn't my idea! Martin wanted to all the sudden once I walked in the door!" Connie said.

…Wait, haven't your parents said not to let your little siblings watch CSI?" Jean asked. "Why would your grandma let them?"

"Well, she's blind and she just likes to stay upstairs and make her weird charms she sells on Etsy… Besides, didn't your dad say not to close the door with Marco in here?" Connie teased.

"T-that's none of your business!" Jean shouted defensively, as Marco hid his face again.

"It isn't as long as you don't tell anyone else I'm letting Sunny and Martin watch CSI." Connie bargained.

"...Okay, but I sure hope you aren't expecting your 'big brother of the year award' any time soon." Jean said, causing Connie to give him the stink eye.

"They're 7 and 9 years old, it's not gonna kill 'em! Are you coming or not?!" Connie cried.

With a sigh of defeat, Jean agreed, deciding he wouldn't bother to change clothes. Once the three boys left Jean's house, it only took a couple of minutes to get to Connie's house… Although Sasha and Sunny were actually outside rather than waiting inside, apparently looking at something on the ground in Connie's front yard.

* * *

><p>"Connie, lookit! A buncha mushrooms grew in a big ring!" Sunny said. "There are little people inside!"<p>

"Yeah, sure, people!" Sasha said in a high, enthusiastic, sugary voice, obviously just playing along with the younger girl. "A little tiny family with a little house in a mushroom fence!"

"No, see, they're right there! Making stuff and drawing stuff in the ground!" Sunny continued. "They got little white clothes on! They're so cute!" she cried.

"Huh? That wasn't there earlier…" Connie said, quickly darting over to look at the strange ring of fungus.

"…_She sees them?" _Marco whispered to himself.

"_Huh?" _Jean asked as quietly as possible.

"_Look with your soul." _Marco told him very quietly.

""_Oh come on, I hate doing that…" _Jean mumbled.

"_Jean!" _Marco whispered more urgently.

"_I always see things I don't want to_…" Jean muttered quietly.

"_Those things are just spirits, Jean. Apparitions, collective energy. Nothing to be afraid of." _Marco reassured him.

Jean just gave a small grunt of displeasure before squeezing his eyes tightly shut and coercing the energy of his soul to flow into them. He was done well before he opened his eyes again, but he did want to mentally prepare himself, after all.

The entire neighborhood was now overlaid with trails of odd sparkling gas, hazes of lightly glowing colors, and flying wisps of every hue. They zipped through the air, often going straight through anything in their path. Pretty much every object glowed ever-so-faintly with some kind of colored essence. The world was like a circus of rainbow colors, swirling and mixing and intermingling at all times. He looked down and saw the color of his own soul, slowly and passively flowing and rising out of his skin like gas. The same was happening to Connie, Sasha, and Sunny as well, with the colors being a bright lemon yellow, cardinal red, and rich maroon, respectively. Marco looked much the same, the essence of his soul barely visible anywhere but in his chest, where it glowed quite brightly. But besides being rather obnoxiously bright and hard to look at for too long, none of that was the part Jean disliked.

That dishonor went to the odd shapes and creatures he saw. Deformed 'birds'; wispy serpentine creatures; swarms of strange mineral-bugs; creeping masses of black, hairy eyes; oozing grey slugs that were longer and thicker than his legs, covered with slavering mouths all over their bodies; asymmetrical, lopsided, off-white, humanoid figures… It was a different kind of strange and unsettling than the monster world. At least you knew what you were getting into all along if you decided to go there. But what Jean saw whenever he looked at the world 'with his soul' happened 24/7 whether he watched or not, just outside of his normal visual capacity. Saying it tended to gnaw at his mind was just putting it lightly.

When he looked at the ring, Jean saw what Sunny was talking about. Tiny humans no taller than six inches, drawing an intricate symbol in the circle and setting up some kind of eighteen inch tall, complex, pulsating tower of seemingly fungal composition in the center. On the largest mushroom, an especially small man with short jet black hair stood, apparently overseeing things. He had a solid white exoskeleton rather than skin; four dark grey insectoid eyes; no visible nose or ears; small antennae; and dull, grey, slightly tattered mothlike wings. All the fairies wore rather plain white clothes, but he could be distinguished by an especially weary, jaded expression and the fact that he wore a tiny cravat. He seemed to be regarding Sunny with a mild curiosity, perhaps on the same level of vague interest as seeing a slightly uncommon bird.

"Don't step inside of that!" Marco warned. "That's really bad luck! It's a fairy ring, you know." He explained, before the fairy standing on the mushroom looked up at him and nodded.

"A fairy ring?!" Sunny cried excitedly, her eyes wide with wonder. They were large and brown, yet it was times like this when it was easy to see that they held a strange yet beautiful glimmer of reddish-purple as well, like a pair of fresh cranberries. "You heard him, Lemonhead, outta the way!" Sunny said, shoving Connie away from the ring before setting her eyes upon it with covetous glee. "I'm gonna see all the fairies first!" she cried, excitedly bouncing on her heels. The fairy on the mushroom just gave a tiny sigh and shook his head at her.

"No, they don't like intruders or trespassers! Be careful, or they'll take you away forever, alright?" Marco said, his tone dead serious. The little fairy on the mushroom seemed to agree, subtly nodding at him. "And they're known for being pretty tricky… They could completely make something up…"

"Aww, really?" Sunny said with a clearly disappointed tone, kicking at the grass a little. "C'mon, Marco, you're always the one who's on my side when I talk about stuff like this! Are you feeling alright? You're a way lighter shade of green today…" Sunny pointed out.

"…_She notices /that/?" _Jean and Marco both briefly thought to themselves. For whatever reason, the fairy on the mushroom was grimacing now.

"Sunny, it's not nice to call people sick…" Connie reminded her, not really sure what exactly she meant.

"Pfft, I don't mean like that! It's not my fault your eyes are broken." she replied. "I could go get Grandma, she'd say the same thing. How are he and Jean supposed to be the Apple Jacks with Marco's green all different now?" Sunny asked.

"Grandma's blind, Sunny, how's she supposed to agree with you?" Connie asked.

"Connie, Grandma ain't blind! She just don't see like you do!" Sunny insisted.

"Uh-huh, sure." Connie answered. "Your imagination gets bigger like every day, haven't you ever noticed that? When are you gonna stop playing this whole game with the colors and weird nicknames and the stuff that isn't really there?"

Sunny suddenly frowned hard and looked Connie straight in the eye. "…Grandma knows it's not a game… And she says one day you'll get the mud outta your eyes and see it too." Sunny said indignantly. The fairy's grimace reappeared, his disdain seeming to grow deeper by the second.

"I don't have mud in my eyes! Do you wanna watch CSI or not?!" Connie cried.

"Who wants something like that when you can go look for more fairies?!" Sunny responded.

"You have homework!" Connie said.

"Okay, but can't I just catch a fairy and wish that all my homework was done forever?" Sunny argued as if it were the most logical solution ever. "I /would/ wish for yours to be done too, but since you're being a jerk right now…" Sunny added on. The fairy shook his head subtly, then placed a palm on his forehead and gave a very quiet sigh.

"There are no stupid fairies, Sunny!" Connie responded. "Aren't you getting too old for this game?" Oddly enough, the fairy seemed to be almost silently encouraging Connie, moving a hand in a lifting motion as if subtly encouraging him to argue harder, persuade Sunny more.

"Aren't _you _getting too old to keep pretending you don't believe me?!" Sunny shot back, clenching her small fists tightly.

"….I'm not preten-" Connie weakly started.

"I know you're just jealous. You know you see things too, but not as much as you wish you did, and it bothers you. Remember how you used to go on and on about how Mikasa showed you a dragon once?"

"…I… dreamt that? Probably?" Connie answered hesitantly, his eyes flitting around in uncertainty. "I was just a little kid and no one believed me so-"

"…I saw it too." Sasha added in. "And no one else ever believed me either, so… I started to think that maybe it really was just a cool lizard and I just exaggerated it in my head…"

"And you know you've seen worse, Connie." Sunny said ominously. "You need to start carrying Grandma's charms."

"…They're just dumb things she sells on Etsy…" Connie mumbled. "And half of them are gross anyway… She gave me an actual rabbit's foot before. Who does that?!"

"You know what, if you're gonna keep being like that, I'm done talking to you. And you know what, I'm gonna go tell Grandma about this right n-" Sunny was interrupted by a very noisy, high pitched whistle coming from the fairy, and suddenly five fairies of varying exoskeletal colors were gathered right in front of him. Upon closer inspection, Jean noticed several things were amiss with them. One seemed to have had their eyes gouged out. Another was missing an arm. Yet another had no legs, simply fluttering in place. One had badly disfigured wings, and if he squinted he even noticed that one who was seemingly fine had no teeth, and heavy scarring on their limbs. Their souls were little orbs of light, bundled tightly in the centers of their chests, like Marco's… However, they were dull and murky in color, lacking the usual sparkle and gloss of a soul. In addition to that, their glow wasn't steady; but erratic and sputtering, like that of a waning candle.

With just a hand gesture, some wingbeats, and a series of whistling chirps from their tiny leader, the fairies seemed to know exactly what to do. They made a semicircle and all inhaled sharply.

"Jean, a barrier!" Marco cried, not bothering to say it quietly enough to not be heard by anyone else.

"What?" Jean said, before the five fairies began to issue a soft, gentle, perfectly harmonized hum, which made the air shimmer and warm a bit. It then give a distinctive, fizzling _crack _followed by a _'vvrr…' _as the sudden burst of uncorked mystical energy caused air molecules to vibrate and jostle about. The hairs on the back of Jean's neck stood up as well.

"Just-" Marco started, but the warning signs tipped Jean off almost immediately. After six years, he knew many signs of imminent supernatural fuckery, and he was already instinctively reacting. Something… _souly _was about to happen. Jean reached out towards Sasha and imagined a burst of energy propelling his essence forward in that moment. A rope of sparkling cinnamon haze grappled her and then pulled her in as Jean visualized rapidly contracting his essence into his center.

"Jean, what the hell-" Sasha started, but there was a louder _crack, _and then a series of loud popping noises as tiny pockets of air heated up very rapidly and unevenly.

"Dude-" Connie started, while Sunny just looked on in absolute shock. Two tendrils rushed out of Marco's back, causing both Connie and Sunny to go wide eyed as they pulled them in close. "What the hell?!" Connie screamed.

"Sorry, I'll explain-" Marco was quickly interrupted.

"No time, just be quiet!" Jean hissed, although he honestly did mean to say it nicer. The hum of the five fairies grew deeper, louder, richer, more flowing, steadily rising and falling. The air shimmered more, and the temperature fluctuated wildly from warm to frigid with each swell of the hum. Jean contracted his essence deep into the center of his chest and then took a deep breath. He started frantically concentrating entirely on the image of an omnidirectional bubble of mystical essence bursting out from his body, and strained to imagine and feel a white hot rush of mildly painful energy surge out from his core, in order to have a thick layer of essence burst out like a dome to protect everyone… Unfortunately, it only managed to encompass him, Sasha and Marco as the hum crested into a roaring song of strong, otherworldly noise, bringing an almighty burst of white light with it. In the next moment, everyone who wasn't a fairy was sprawled out on the ground with a pounding headache and ringing ears… which really just meant Sasha, Marco, and Jean, since Connie and Sunny were now gone.

"….W-what? What just happened?" Sasha mumbled after a few minutes, as she sat up and dusted herself off.

"Jean… wasn't the barrier big enough?" Marco asked worriedly.

"…I guess not…" Jean muttered, looking at where Connie and Sunny used to be.

"What happened?!" Sasha repeated, her breathing growing quicker as she looked at where Connie and Sasha used to be. "Where'd they go?! Who's the tiny guy?! What did you guys just do?!" Sasha asked loudly and breathlessly. 'The tiny guy' referred to the small fairy on the mushroom, who was now walking over with an emotionless calm to the three teenagers. "W-what's he want with us?! Guys?!"

The tiny fairy man took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled, creating a deep, chilly mist that steadily formed itself into small, floating letters and words above him. They steadily became more clear and crisp, until they were easily recognizable as the words "Call me Levi."

"What?! What's with the smoke?! Is this some kind of fairy game? Just tell us where you took our friends!" Sasha cried, as she fully sat up and looked down sternly at the little man, who seemed completely nonplussed.

Levi just grunted a little and opened his mouth wide for a moment, revealing two rows of sharp teeth but no tongue to speak of, then exhaled deeply once again, forming more words. "Calm down. I'd like to make this easy for all of us." Levi then turned to Marco, a brief glimmer of recognition appearing in his small steely grey eyes… Although Marco was the only one that really recognized it as such, being the only one familiar with such eyes. "You. Monster. You're a Bodt. You know why I'm here, right? Explain it for her."

"…Wait, 'monster'? What's that supposed to mean? Why does he know your last name?!" Sasha asked, looking warily at Marco.

"Any one of a wide class of sapient creatures that eat human fear. You haven't even made a Wish yet, have you?" Levi's words floated right in front of Sasha's head, but she just stared at them blankly.

"…What?"

"A Wish. What changes your soul and saves your skin when something-" There was a brief pause in word formation. "_**unusual**_… happens. That Wish."

"Uh…"

"Didn't think so. Anyway." Levi's words suddenly shifted angles and turned towards Marco's face. "Forget explaining. Just let me say… we're looking for someone. Someone very important." Levi said.

"That doesn't answer shi-" Sasha was interrupted by a gust of bitterly cold wind to the face, generated by Levi's wings.

"Don't interrupt with your filthy lips. Let me just say that the good news is I don't think either of the kids we just took away are the ones we're looking for, and-"

"Then why take them at all?!" Jean interrupted, earning his own faceful of bitingly cold wind.

"It's protocol. Procedure. If any human child or teenager shows signs of supernatural awareness… Take them. Just to make sure. That was the order."

"From who?" Marco asked.

"That's classified." Levi responded.

"Well if you don't think they're who you want, give them back! Why the hell do you wanna steal some kid, anyway?!" Jean interrupted again.

"Calm down. I'm the one doing you a favor." Levi said, scowling a little before continuing. "Monsters, and other 'mythical' humanoids… Are almost always real, and fully capable of crossbreeding with your sweaty kind. Know what that means?"

"What does that have to do with-" Sasha started impatiently, before Levi's eyes suddenly turned a piercing shade of cyan and the air around him suddenly gave a loud crackling sound as myriads of ice crystals formed in it. Sasha quickly stopped talking.

"Now. The one we're looking for is supposed to be half angel, and half human. I'll be blunt: We can't let that kid survive. An angel has devastating raw power. The Wish a human makes is almost impossible to predict, and they could end up with just about any kind of power they damn well please. We're only doing this because if that kid has both of those qualities combined, they could damn well kill you all. _**By accident. **_Wishes aren't hereditary, they're unique to every human... But if we see any sign of a kid being supernatural or unusual, we still have to assume it's because there's something 'mythical' in their bloodline."

"…So if I wish to save Connie and Sunny right now…" Sasha started.

"It doesn't work like that. What I'm saying is, any kid that seems suspicious has to be taken away. Nothing I can do. So…" Levi turned to Jean.

"No!" Marco cried, immediately wrapping his arms tightly around Jean. Jean himself could only look down wide-eyed at the tiny man, hardly able to believe what was happening. …Which was a strange feeling, because the list of things he'd believe was much longer than any normal human's.

"You know, this is gonna be really damn hard with no voice, but if you wanna be difficult…" came Levi's drifting words, which were then joined by an especially large cloud of mist that quickly condensed into a series of razor sharp and surprisingly durable icicles, which Levi plunged deep into Marco's flesh. There was a splatter of black blood and a howl of completely inhuman origins as Marco's tendrils all shot out towards Levi, but with surprising skill and grace he smoothly avoided them, instead ending up standing on the tip of one unscathed. The fact that the tendrils were being exposed to direct sunlight also seriously hampered their combat abilities, and they were already stinging uncomfortably after only a couple of seconds.

A hazy "Sorry." floated lazily out of Levi's mouth as he plunged an arm into Marco's tendril with amazing speed and power, breaking through the exoskeleton easily. He then gave a raspy hiss, causing a wave of ice to shoot through Marco's tendril, rapidly freezing it solid. The snapping pain caused Marco to shrink them back, allowing Levi to zip directly to Marco's neck and utter a garbled string of hisses and clicks before plunging his teeth in and then quickly jumping away, creating a sudden bloom of rapidly proliferating ice crystals in the area.

Marco's neck began to twist and the skin began to bubble as he snarled and fought to resist the rapid freezing effect, body trembling and shaking all over as he tried to raise his body temperature and keep his tissue and bodily fluids mobile enough to resist the ever-creeping bitter cold. However, the action also forced him to somewhat compromise his protection from the sun, causing a steady smoldering to set in on his skin as the sun's rays beamed down on him.

"Marco!" Jean cried, as Levi jumped on head and pulled at his hair, and the air began to crackle and distort… But Jean began to exude a very sticky layer of essence and swatted Levi aside just as a white glow began to form, leaving the tiny winged man struggling to get up, now coated heavily in the obnoxious, sticky substance. Jean immediately picked him up and thickened it further, making sure to cover his mouth and prevent him from doing anything further but struggle and breathe angrily through his spiracles, only able to muster up a few tiny ice crystals around him now. Marco managed to melt off the majority of the ice, and by time Jean had Levi securely in one hand, Marco was rubbing a steadily healing patch of frostbite on his neck. "Are you okay?!" Jean asked, looking worriedly at where Levi had bitten him and the various small burn patches on his body.

"I'm fine." Marco said wearily, his voice a little unsteady from the lingering effects of having to scramble his throat around so much. "Connie and Sunny are more important." he continued, as Jean began to thickly slather any burnt areas he noticed with a layer of cinnamon aura.

Sasha could only stare at Jean and Marco, completely unsure of what to think.

"…So… you /knew/ he's… not human, Jean?" Sasha said unsurely, staring at the two boys with confusion and disgust in her eyes.

"…Yeah." Jean responded a bit reluctantly, as he stood up and turned away from Sasha. He knew that they were definitely about to have something of a difficult conversation, especially because Sasha immediately stood up as well and positioned herself so she was facing him again.

"….So he's this _thing_ that somehow eats _emotions_ according to the fucking _fairy_ in your fucking _hand_ who just TOOK OUR FUCKING _FRIENDS _AND THE FAIRY SAYS HE _KNOWS_ WHAT'S GOING ON AND YOU'RE FUCKING _DATING _HIM?!"

"I… Sasha, just… Marco, help me out here."

"Oh hell no, that fucking _thing _is not gonna-"

"Sasha…" Marco said, a twinge of hurt in his voice as he inhaled deeply, removing a deep haze of black smoke from Sasha's body. She seemed to become significantly less stiff, then she gave a deep sigh, although she still looked highly confused and uncomfortable.

"…So what are you, anyway? What kind of monster of whatever, exactly?" she asked Marco.

"The Bogeyman's son." Marco told her, his expression dead serious.

"…You're serious." Sasha said, her tone and expression completely flat and unamused "Marco, this isn't the time to be jo-"

"No, really." Marco said. "One-third troll, one-third bogeyman, one-third spider-person." Marco explained.

"…Okay, see, that kind of thing just makes it sound more like you're bullshitting… It's like a bad character on some third-rate forum rpg…" Sasha answered.

"I can show you." Marco said. "It's one of our powers, we can show you memories…" Marco weakly explained, obviously not wanting to be disbelieved again.

"You know, I'd reaaallly rather not? Not right now? I guess? Is that a problem?" Sasha answered unsurely. "This is a lot to take in as it is… So uh, I'm really sorry about calling you a 'thing' and comparing you to a bad rpg character but wow, I'm just really confused right now. Come to think of it… this gives me the same kind of feeling as when Mom left…" Sasha muttered quietly. That took Jean and Marco by surprise.

"Wait, what?" Jean asked. Sasha never talked about her mother, it'd only been her and her father for as long as Jean could remember.

"I don't know anything about her family. She hardly ever talked about stuff like that. And then she left when I was five… I hardly even remember her. All I remember is that she was tall and pretty… just, beyond gorgeous, like she fell out of a painting or something… But my Dad says she still loved to go hunting with him… and she was really good with a bow and arrow, and she loved the outdoors, but… Whatever, I'm done talking about it. Let that fairy tell us what we need to do." Sasha said.

Jean carefully unsealed Levi's mouth, almost expecting some horrible screeching noise or some more ice powers, but Levi just sighed. "Look. I'll tell you what. I'll let you have them back… Just make it worth our while." Levi said.

"…I could crush your head right now, and you're asking for something?" Jean pointed out.

"You wouldn't." Levi's expression suggested it was something he simply knew, and not a statement of disbelief or denial. "And it wouldn't kill me." Levi responded, not looking even the slightest bit threatened despite Jean's tight grip on him. "And as long as I have any breath, I could kill you." Levi continued, earning a snarl from Marco. "All I'm asking is that you give us somewhere to sleep for a while. Somewhere clean and dry. I'll also need your help getting certain supplies to set up the proper protections for where we'll be staying. But once I have them, I can do that on my own."

"…That's it?" Jean asked, although he got the feeling he wasn't getting the whole picture.

"I'm too old to be mincing words with human teenagers." Levi wrote. "Anything better than a damn cardboard box would be fine for at least a while… Some might say I'm on the wrong side of the law, after all."

"...Fuck…" Jean muttered to himself. Out of all the loops his life had alreadt thrown him, now he was gonna help a goddamn fairy criminal just to get his friends back? Hell, Sunny wasn't even exactly his friend, she was just his friend's weird sister… "I should be getting paid for this…" Jean grumbled.

"You already agreed. Now, if you'd get your sweaty hands off of me and let me guide you..." Levi wrote. Jean hesitantly complied, and the tight, sticky binds were removed from Levi in an instant. This allowed him to hover in midair just ahead of Jean, while wiping and dusting himself off in a rather prissy manner.

"…So your power isn't fire or lightning or explosions or anything? You just… make some kind of stretchy sticky magicky stuff?" Sasha asked Jean with a small smile.

"Well, yeah, it's got uses!" Jean said defensively.

"I'm underwhelmed." Sasha replied. "You're just a tube of glitter glue, basically~" she teased.

"He makes the /best/ superballs." Marco added in, as if that were an actual useful and awe-inspiring ability. Sasha just held back a snort, while Levi landed gracefully in the fairy ring and briefly put a hand to the mushroom tower in the center, while clicking and chirping under his breath.

"Who asked you, anyway?!" Jean snapped at Sasha, but before an answer could be given, Levi gave a sharp whistle and motioned for the three to step into the fairy ring.

"On three." Levi told the teens. They all stiffened up a bit, not knowing exactly what to expect. "…You know what, nevermind." Levi immediately added on, and with just three quick, sharp whistles and a snap the air was already crackling as white light enveloped them all.

* * *

><p>When the light faded, they found themselves in what seemed to be a massive, branching underground cave structure, the craggy brown walls full of small holes and burrows. The surroundings were lit a dull amber by a variety of bioluminescent mushrooms and shaggy mosses growing throughout the cave, with many of the mushrooms being taller and thicker than grown men, and some even bigger than that. A clear path large enough for them to walk through single file ran through the middle of each branch of the cave, but upon closer inspection, there were many smaller, fairy-sized paths among the giant mushrooms and moss. Little huts of mud and moss and hollowed out mushrooms that came up to Jean's knees lined the tinier streets, while the especially huge and thick mushrooms seemed to fuction as apartments of some sort. The cave walls were tall, and had neatly protruding shelves of rock in order to create several fairy sized stories, and they were also covered in tiny makeshift houses and buildings where there weren't burrows. Everything was spaced closely, and obviously quite crowded. However, it wasn't as dirty or smelly as someone might think, and there were even a few miniature gardens and parks in the tiny city, growing perfectly green despite the obvious lack of sunlight. The air was quite humid, but there was somehow a steady breeze. Fairies flitted about idly, seemingly going about their day, while tiny children no more than two or three inches tall could be seen stopping their play and flying up onto their roofs to stare up at the comparatively immense new arrivals in wonder and gossip in high pitched, miniscule voices amongst themselves… although Jean swore he heard a tiny voice saying something about "funny hair".<p>

"They'll be right up ahead. I'm taking you to our boss's room, where the others are waiting…" Levi wrote, as he hovered forwards. 'Right up ahead' turned out to meant about fifteen minutes of brisk walking and about four sudden turns through the cave, but once that was done, sure enough, the small group found themselves in front of a hole in the cave wall just big enough for them to crawl through.

It led to an unexpectedly spacious cathedral style room, noticeably finer and more elgant in construction than the rest of the cave. The room was perfectly dome shaped, with walls that were perfectly smooth, brownish-red, and etched with deep lines that divided them into horizontally banded sections. Every other band had a long string of arcane writing on it that wrapped all the way around the room, and faint glows of varying colors would intermittently start from the beginning letter and travel all the way around the room before fading again for a moment. There was a very ornate circular pattern on the floor, full of countless tiny drawings and symbols that could only be the handiwork of fairies. The room was devoid of any fungi or plant life, giving off an unusually stark and sterile air. The only light source besides the glowing lettering was the somewhat dim ball of light floating near the ceiling, looking like a tiny, cooled down piece of the sun. It almost looked /too/ perfect, /too/ significant…

Connie and Sunny were laid out on two rectangular slabs in the center of the room, strapped down with sturdy looking iron chains.

"Cancel the examinations. They say they'll help us." Levi wrote. Notably, his writing was no longer in English, instead roughly matching the letters on the wall.

"…Aren't they just children?" answered a masculine brunette fairy with a beige exoskeleton and light brown hair. He was the one who Jean had noticed was missing an arm.

"Farlan, it's a very temporary situation, and they aren't normal children. I think you'll agree that just about anything would be better than this. We have no time or energy left to be picky." Levi wrote.

"Yeah, Farlan, don't be a Debbie Downer!" said a tiny woman with bright red hair in pigtails and a nearly black exoskeleton. She was the one with no eyes.

"…What exactly is this 'Debbie Downer' thing?" Farlan asked.

"I… heard a human say it once?" the blind woman said. "I dunno."

"…We're really going to use three kids to get out of this mess?" said a man with heavily tattered dragonfly wings, a greyish-blue exoskeleton, and black hair . "Are you really sure about this?"

"Gunther, they managed to escape our attempt to bring them all here, and resist my second attempt to do so as well. That tallest one there is a Bodt, so he'll make an especially good meat shield."

"…Meat shield?" Jean mumbled lowly, causing Sasha to look at him with what he mistook for complete confusion and ignorance. After all, it did occur to Jean that she had absolutely no idea what they were-

"Excuse me, but… is like, there someone trying to kill you or something?" Sasha directly asked Levi. "I agree with Gunther, if it's that serious you should probably just let all five of us go home and find some actual adults to help…" Sasha halfway muttered, her voice growing quieter as she spoke, clearly not fully comfortable with speaking to them let alone actually suggesting they do a favor.

Jean and Marco were absolutely speechless.

"What?" Sasha said. "Was that like bad manners for them or something?"

"…How did you understand them?" Jean asked.

"…Haven't they been speaking English?" Sasha replied.

"…Uh, no?" Jean said back.

"…Stop fucking around, Jean." Sasha responded.

"He's serious." Marco added in.

"See, that's problem with what we've been hired to do in your little town. Way more'n one of you oversized monkeys has got myth blood in 'em. It's actually way more common in that place than you'd think… Probably exactly why the Nephilim kid is hiding there!" said a somewhat older looking man with an ash grey exoskeleton and a brown-haired undercut. He was missing his legs.

"You know Petra never liked you using 'oversized monkeys', Oluo." Gunther said. Oluo suddenly became very quiet, while Marco and Jean just glanced at each other. Surely, it was only a coincidentally shared name…

"…I thought it was illegal though." Jean said, while Sasha just blinked a few times like she suddenly became even less capable of believing what was going on.

"Didn't use to be. Matter of fact, it's specifically /because/ of this kid that it turned illegal in the first place." Isabel explained.

"Angels are held to much higher expectations than others. The fact that one would mate with a human is extremely scandalous." wrote a stern faced man with a sandy brown exoskeleton and brown hair. He had to, after all, since he was the one with no teeth and a cracked, scarred exoskeleton. "However, I believe Levi is correct in his judgment. We are in a very precarious situation."

"Eld, if we don't do this job, how are we supposed to get enough money to pay off our debts and get our bodies regenerated?"

"Not over yet." Levi replied simply. "We have help. There's still a chance…" Levi said, as he unchained Connie and Sunny from their stone tables… and woke them up by doing little more than whistling very loudly in their ears, which made them both sit bolt upright and give yelps of astonishment.

"Great… we can finally go home…" Sasha said, her voice so rich with relief that the fact that there were a few tears in her eyes was hardly a surprise.

"_Earth always was full of gullible little brats..." _Levi thought to himself, almost smiling as he saw the tiniest grain of sawdust fall off of 'Connie's' shoe and then seamlessly rejoin the illusion. "_Looks like not even a monster prince can tell when a fairy's lying… It's always so easy, when you act like you're on their side…" _Levi continued to think. When everyone left the fancy looking room, he left last, snapping his fingers twice and giving a short whistle through his spiracles as he left. With the transfiguration broken, the entire ornate dome seemed to warp and melt away. Like he'd _really _show them his boss's room that easily.

Only a plain, craggy, musty little cave den was left, almost featureless save for a single immense boulder blocking a closet-sized indentation in the wall.

With the disguise broken, you could almost hear the terrified whimpering…


	14. Chapter 14

**Don't mess with Grandma Springer's grandkids.**

**Also, I'm headcanoning Connie as black in this story, heads up since it becomes more explicit in this chapter, and I don't think I mentioned that much pertaining to it in earlier chapters. Reason being, I just automatically always thought of him that way. (I did go back and edit in a couple of brief mentions though) **

**I'm black too, which is why I feel comfortable enough to do this, since otherwise I'd be paranoid that I'm fucking the representation up.**

Levi wasted no time in being more clear about his plans during the return trip, producing a small scroll of paper that could still easily blanket his body and a tiny quill from his pocket.

"How did he fit that…" Sasha mumbled.

"It's very common." Jean said, as Levi quickly scrawled various things down in a style that was neat but somewhat unprofessional looking. The paper was somehow staying perfectly flat while he wrote, as if positioned against a hard surface. Within a couple of minutes, the entire scroll was filled with the names of various spices, roots, body parts, organs, and stones from all kinds of different plants, animals, and places. Levi calmly handed the scroll to Jean, who could only blanch at the list. He'd never even heard of half of them, and he only vaguely recalled many of the rest. There were also quite a few that he already knew were just outright dangerous.

"Most should be found in the swamp that matches up with portals in your area." Levi stated. "Others should be in the nearest monster city. With these, my group can create a boundary that prevents our detection…. It'll be a pretty shitty boundary, but it'll work anyway." Levi said.

"...Greater swamp wyvern venom?" Jean fearfully read off of the paper.

"Isn't that the kind not even Mikasa wants?" Marco pointed out.

"I think it's mostly because they get more than forty feet long, but-" Jean was interrupted by Sasha.

"…Wait, Mikasa knows about this kind of stuff too?!" Sasha cried.

"She lives in this universe, actually… that's why you've never been over her house. And Eren's a monster too." Jean said.

"…So you've just all been playing some huge game where everyone is in on this big secret except me?!" Sasha asked with a slight frown.

"I didn't know either…" Connie pointed out.

"I thought it was obvious." Sunny said with a small shrug.

"I guess it explains why Mikasa's so pretty and good at everything…" Sasha said.

"She shines like a full moon." Sunny said.

"Yeah… even though it's been six damn years and I still feel like I hardly understand her at all. She's so pretty, but she's so _confusing…_" Jean complained.

"Yeah, for _you~." _Sasha teased, causing Jean to scowl and Connie and Sunny to giggle.

"So why don't you try?!" Jean snapped. "If I can understand Marco, I'd think I could understand damn there anyone I want to."

"You know what? I think I will." Sasha said. "We're already friends anyway."

"Okay but seriously, what about what's going on right now? What does the fairy guy mean by portals and boundaries and shit?"

"Supernatural things can come here through like this void of darkness and shit that's like a big empty bridge or something." Jean said. "They can get in from anywhere, if it's dark enough… Like a closet, for example… That's where Marco came 'in' from. The monster in the closet, basically." Jean explained.

"…Oh." Sasha said. "So he's just some stalker from another dimension out to scare the shit out of children? What, don't they have anything better to do?"

"…And what do they want with us exactly? World domination? Putting their larvae in us? Some cheap knockoff of 'To Serve Man'?" Connie asked skeptically.

"…They just eat our fear. Especially the fear from children. It's just their natural diet." Jean said.

"Don't tell me you /let/ Marco scare you just to-" Connie started, but Jean was expecting the question. After all, he had given at least _some_ thought to what he'd do if his secret suddenly wasn't a secret anymore… _Some._

"Yeah, pretty much. Or I'll watch a horror movie or something. It doesn't have to be every day…" Jean said. "…It doesn't make him a bad person either." Jean continued, his tone becoming markedly more biting and defensive.

"Yeah, okay…" Sasha said, just a little too sarcastically and carelessly for Jean's liking.

"I'm serious!" Jean snarled. "You can think I'm weird for liking him. You can think I'm weird for not trying to get rid of him. You can think whatever you want about me for keeping his species a secret! But he is NOT a bad person!"

"Easy there French toast, don't jump outta the toaster too fast…" Connie said.

"It's okay to not fully trust me… You have no idea what's going on and you have questions that can't be answered all at the same time. It's a really scary feeling." Marco said.

"I guess you /would/ know about scary." Sasha muttered. The tone wasn't exactly very joking or friendly, although perhaps she might've meant it that way.

"Actually yes, my father is /the/ Bogeyman. Without even using half of his maximum capability, my father can be in enough places at once to scare tens of millions of kids every night. He can take any shape in an instant. He abandoned me when I was eight years old and never even once said he loved me or cared about me. My mother is hardly any better, and I am known to much of my world as a mistake and a disgrace. …But sure, the understandable reaction is to mutter sarcastic backhanded insults to someone who up until now was your close friend… _Obviously, _despite finding out that you are not fully human either, it's just natural to resort to anger and suspicion towards me… Just like almost everyone else." Marco said rather calmly, although his blood red eyes betrayed his tone. Jean was really a bit surprised he hadn't slipped into his low echo, with the way he could feel Marco's soul thrumming erratically in his chest.

"He's got a point, Sasha…" Sunny muttered, as Sasha seemed to draw into herself rather guiltily. Levi cut the conversation short with a strong, piercing whistle.

"Shut up and listen. You need to get serious and keep up your end of the deal. _Or else._" Levi said. "You're going to start searching as soon as we get back to your filthy world."

"_Don't you literally live in a cave?" _went through every non-fairy's mind in some form or another, but no one had the guts to say anything, so they just glanced at each other with mild confusion.

"It was so much prettier before the Industrial Revolution…" Isabel mused.

"You should've seen the land back before those humans came from overseas…" Eld said.

"…Do all things that outlive us have to lament the environment to show off how old and wise and 'above us' they are?" Jean mumbled.

"Part of the job description~" Isabel teasingly replied. "Also most of us do agree that you're all kind of awful~" she added on, no less cheerfully.

"Whatever…" Jean muttered, after which they walked for just a little while longer before coming upon the portal where they came in. Quickly and unceremoniously, Levi touched the tower in the center and they were all returned to Earth in a flash of light.

Back outside of Connie's house, every non-fairy rubbed their heads in confusion and discomfort for a moment before regaining their composure. "I like the usual way better…" Marco muttered.

"What's that like?" Sunny asked.

"You walk through a big dark abyss of nothing and if you don't do it right you might get lost forever." Marco said nonchalantly, before Jean started talking afterwards.

"Time doesn't have meaning in there so sometimes I use it to finish my homework. And Eren dared me to take a nap in there once… but I wouldn't recommend that. Gives you nightmares." Sasha and Connie just stared in bewildered horror while Sunny actually looked even more fascinated.

"Can you use it for time travel though?" Sunny asked.

"…Technically, yeah, sort of, but that's really hard and it makes you like a billion times more likely to get yourself lost forever so no one does that." Jean casually explained.

"Dang… I wanted to go to the future…" Sunny said.

A sharp whistle came from Levi, and everyone turned to look at him as he started to write. "Anyway… I suppose this house is as good as any for a starting point." Levi said, motioning to Connie's house."

"Grandma won't like that..." Sunny said cautiously.

"Regardless. We're going in." Levi said.

They got just through the front door before they were confronted by Connie's grandma herself. She was a thin, wrinkly, wizened old woman with deep brown skin, wearing thick sunglasses but not using a cane or any form of support or guidance, oddly enough. She wasn't even five feet tall, and she was dressed in a lilac robe and light pink slippers, with frizzy, undone, somewhat thinned black hair. Martin was sitting nearby, casually watching cartoons while sitting on a black sofa.

"…And just what do y'all think y'all is tryna do in my son's house?" she asked quietly, her voice made somewhat feeble by her advanced age, although it carried an undertone of dire seriousness.

"What's wrong, Grandma?" Martin asked, as the fairies seemed to tense up, apparently able to sense that something was amiss.

"Go to sleep, baby." she said calmly. With a simple flick of her wrist, he immediately fell on the couch, in a deep sleep as soon as his head touched the cushions.

"...What did you just-" Connie started, but his grandma wasn't done yet.

"I don't know what the fuck y'all tryna pull on me…" Grandma Springer said, as the door suddenly closed and locked behind them all. Even through her thick sunglasses, a rich shade of cranberry red could now be seen shining through. "But these sure as hell ain't my grandbabies."

"Grandma?" Sunny asked apprehensively, as the fairies became even more uneasy, growling, whispering, chittering and becoming surrounded with colorful auras.

"We gon' get ya back, honey." Grandma Springer said, as she reached in the pocket of the robe and pulled out a small handful of odd powder, which she blew at Sunny, causing her to rapidly begin to fall apart into clumps of sawdust.

"G-grandma?! What did you do to me?! Grandma?! Grandma! Help! Help me, please! Connie! Connie, help, help me, Grandma, she's-" 'Sunny' started frantically, as the others quickly backed away and she tried to reach out to 'Connie'… but her hand was already becoming loose sawdust as she touched him… And that only seemed to spread it to 'Connie' as well, causing him to slowly begin to fall apart as well. Wisps of glowing yellow and cyan escaped the fake bodies as they steadily collapsed.

"Connie, Sunny?!" Marco cried.

"What the hell is going on?!" Jean shouted.

"What did you do?! What did you do?!" Sasha indignantly shouted at Grandma Springer, but she held her ground.

"I didn't do nothin', honey! They ain't nothin' but puppets! They done gone and hid their real selves away somewhere!" Grandma Springer yelled. "I know you little tiny people there, flickerin' like you ain't got no damn sense. You must not be scared to die, 'cause you 'bout to die anyway." she continued, as she muttered something harsh and foul underneath her breath. Roughly spider-shaped spirits the size of golfballs crawled up out from between the walls, a vague silvery-grey as they began building thick, glowing webs at an incredible pace, confining everyone to a relatively small area of the house.

"Shit. Isabel!" Levi wrote.

"Right!" Isabel said, as she gave a rattling insectoid screech that rose to a primal shout, causing a burst of oddly reddish-purple flames to erupt from her body and hit the silken barriers, burning a sizable hole through them.

"That ain't gon' work." Grandma Springer told her with a small shake of her head. More of the odd spider creatures simply jumped on Isabel, biting her as she attempted to burn them away, only to have more jump on her. An especially large one, three times the size of the others, suddenly climbed up from the floor and repaired the hole in the silk.

"Damn you…" Farlan said, as he and the other fairies rushed directly at her… Only to be repelled and left clutching themselves in pain when she reached into her other pocket with astonishing speed and opened a small Bible. Even Marco growled lowly and leapt behind Jean, clutching his shoulders as if prepared to carry him away at a second's notice, due to how deeply the small book unsettled him. With everyone temporarily disabled, it gave her ample time to start reading a passage in a very strong, deliberate voice.

Just the act of her reading a passage from it seemed to wrack Marco and the fairies with pain, and Marco's grip on Jean's shoulders became so intense he had to imbue his skin with some spiritual essence to prevent probable bruising. By time she was only halfway through, Marco was snarling and clawing at his own skin, and the fairies were desperately trying to get out of the silken trap, clawing and shouting and chanting with everything they had.

"Marco?!" Jean asked frantically, trying his best to turn around and look at him despite the boy's iron grip.

"_**Enough!" **_Marco spoke in a treacherous, bellowing echo, the sound sending every spider-spirit scattering and somehow shredding their webbing and blasting the Bible out of Grandma Springer's hands. Sasha nearly fainted, and Jean practically jumped out of his skin. The fairies quickly used this as their chance to escape the silken trap, and with a series of clicks and whistles to each other they converged on Martin, still deeply asleep. Meanwhile, Marco's grip on Jean loosened, and he seemed to be once again back to normal. "…I'm so sorry…" Marco mumbled.

Grandma Springer just groaned under her breath as Levi formed a very sharp icicle and pointed it to Martin's neck, and gave a whistle that seemed to be a signal for one of his comrades to speak. "Cooperate with us and we will not hurt-" Gunther started.

"You must be out y'all goddamn minds." Grandma Springer interrupted, prompting Levi to thrust the icicle… Only for the others to give various cries of alarm as something glowed a deep electric blue in one of the pockets of Martin's jeans. Within an instant, a bolt of vaguely bird-shaped energy shot up to the ceiling with incredible speed, taking Levi with it by piercing right through his abdomen. The fairies screamed and scattered as the blue streak of light swiftly moved in a tight spiral and did a 180 degree turn on the spot, its light cleanly and horizontally cutting Levi in half as it did so. His upper and lower body fell unceremoniously to the floor as his comrades flitted about chaotically. Farlan attempted to make a dive for Levi, but the birdlike spirit swooped towards him with frightening speed, cleanly punching a hole right through his chest and pulling out a small, dull, flickering ball of glowing gas, still connected to Farlan by several stretchy tendons. The spirit promptly engulfed it, causing it to grow larger, brighter, and more defined as Farlan curled up into a tight ball and shuddered, small rivulets of greenish-yellow fluid pouring from his wound.

The remaining fairies all gave horrified expressions as Grandma Springer made a beckoning motion and the bird-spirit lifted Farlan and brought him to her.

"That… that's Farlan's soul…" Isabel fearfully called out, as Grandma Springer firmly gripped Farlan in one hand.

"I know." Grandma Springer said blankly. Without hesitation, she plucked the soul away from Farlan's body completely as the bird-spirit circled above her head. Farlan's body shuddered for a moment, then went limp. She dropped it to the floor and held up a tiny beige pebble, scarcely bigger than a pea, subtly growing and shrinking in size as she showed it to them. Little bits and tendrils of flesh and sinew seemed to be growing off of it, in a weak but frenzied attempt to regenerate. "Now the shoe's on the other foot." she said calmly, before her hand suddenly started to glow intensely with deep turquoise spiritual essence. "Do what I say, and his soul _might_ not get crushed like a pea." she said.

"D-don't kill him!" Isabel pleaded. "Right, guys, right?!" she cried, frantically looking around at the other fairies. They all nodded begrudgingly, but they still seemed to be very slightly moving their mouths, and Marco caught something the others apparently didn't, because he flickered directly in front of Grandma Springer just before Gunther gave a sharp, shrill string of high notes and the air cracked loudly as he fired off a surprisingly thick arc of electricity.

"Marco!" Jean and Sasha cried, as the electricity hit him, although it was only enough to make him momentarily stagger.

"Ultrasound…" Marco said hoarsely, still recovering from the shock.

"Alright, then." Grandma Springer said, as she callously crushed Farlan's soul, causing a thick plume of sparkling yellowish-beige light to escape and then promptly disappear by collapsing in on itself. The fairies seemed utterly taken aback, but also absolutely livid, their wings beating even faster and their hovering becoming more erratic. The children simply gave small gasps, finding it hard to believe she'd really do such a thing.

She then immediately snapped her fingers twice and pointed at the group of fairies, prompting the bird-spirit to leap into action again, dashing towards them at alarming speed. This time they linked hands and gave a single rushed screech, creating an invisible barrier that the spirit crashed into headlong, getting smashed and distorted like a glob of glowing smoke before reforming and retreating into Martin's pocket. Oluo then exhaled an astonishing amount of thick, hazy fog, acting as a cover for a new attack… At least until Marco turned his arms into a pair of huge wings and started to flap very strongly, blowing away a good deal of the smoke and causing the fairies to smack uncontrollably into various objects, although it also knocked over and blew around most of the lightweight objects in the room.

"…Okay then…" Sasha muttered to herself, no longer sure what to think of anything anymore.

With all the fairies knocked into various things and just starting to try and take off again, Grandma Springer gave a surprisingly animalistic growl and then a muttered prayer before long, oversized, ghostly white arms burst up from the living room from mounds of frothing spiritual essence and grabbed each of them incredibly tight before they could get too far, completely sealing their mouths. With another simple beckoning motion, each arm slid over to Grandma Springer and transformed into a floating, translucent white bubble, still holding its respective fairy inside. Each one was visibly screaming and hissing and making various limited displays of power, but no one could actually hear anything. Even Levi was still trying to speak as greenish brown tendrils of flesh slowly pulled and sealed the two halves of his body back together.

"I'm still really sorry about the Bible thing…" Marco muttered.

"At least we got them now." Grandma Springer said, as Jean and Sasha just stared at her blankly.

"…What _are _you?" Sasha asked hesitantly.

"A grandmother." Grandma Springer said simply. The fact that her eyes momentarily glowed a brighter scarlet as she said it didn't convince Sasha of anything.

"The-the spiders… and the hands and the bird thing and the the the-" Sasha sputtered.

"Well… I was in a lot of trouble once. I yelled for help… And now these give me all the help I need." Grandma Springer said with a thin smile. On cue, a variety of small glowing wisps and creatures and strange shapes became visible all around her, and all over her body. "Lost my eyes that time, when I needed that help…" she continued, as she briefly pulled down her sunglasses, revealing two glowing balls of scarlet red gas in her eye sockets. They had tiny writhing tendrils, no pupils, and they seemed to be anchored in with thin, intricate, glowing roots around the edges of her eye sockets. "They helped me with that. Still blind, in the normal way, but everything has got spirit. Spread thin, but uniform. That's what they help me see. My whole body got messed up, too… but they helped fix that. And changed me when they did. You can't quite say I'm a human now. Spirits done changed me real deep."

"…That's... neat..." Sasha muttered, as she pointedly looked away from the 'eyes'. "Good for you, I guess... heh."

"Grandma, what freaky eyes you have…" Jean whispered to Marco in an impression of a little girl's voice, causing him to stifle a short burst of laughter.

"This is serious, Jean." Marco forced himself to respond, even though he still wanted to laugh.

"What about Connie and Sunny?! The real ones!" Sasha asked worriedly. "Where are they?!"

"We'll find that out in a minute. I don't trust these little pests to talk no actual sense, so…" Grandma Springer muttered something beneath her breath for a moment and outstretched her left hand, blazing with turquoise aura. This caused myriads of very tiny green mitelike spirits to pop out of the floor and crawl up her body, then collect in her hand. She then brought a floating white bubble containing Eld to the mites and allowed them to enter the bubble, swarming his body and entering every orifice, causing him to silently cough and sputter for a moment.

"What-" Sasha started in complete confusion.

"I call 'em Curites. They attracted to secrets…. Made outta curiosity. Town must have trillions of 'em. Probably a good thirty thousand livin' in you right now. The difference here is I told these to come back out with what they find." Grandma Springer said.

"…That's… not comforting…" Sasha said quietly.

"Tell me about it." Jean muttered. "And you're only on day one of this stuff. Spirits are my least favorite part." Jean said, making a disgusted face.

"Oh, you might as well get use to 'em, honey, they all born from our emotions." Grandma Springer said.

"That's what makes it so creepy…" Jean responded, as Eld suddenly pressed his hands over his mouth and shut his eyes as his body shook all over, but it was no use. Curites steadily trickled out of his joints and from between his fingers, now carrying miniscule bubbles of colored gas as they came back to Grandma Springer's waiting hand. Steadily, the tiny bubbles were pressed together into one large, cohesive one, which she promptly swallowed.

"…Oh, you sick bastards…" she muttered to herself as she looked off into the distance with a somewhat dazed expression, before coming back to reality. "Come on!" she said sharply to the three confused teens with her, as the front door opened and unlocked without her even touching it. She apparently didn't care the slightest that she was still in a robe and slippers with undone hair as she picked up her Bible and left the house with surprising speed, the floating orbs automatically getting pulled along with her. There was so much authority and power in her short, elderly frame that the others listened without protest.

"Uh, what's going on, exactly?" Jean asked.

"They tryna sell my grandkids to a demon." Grandma Springer said wearily, as if this sort of thing happened often.

"That must be their boss…" Marco said.

"What does he want with them?" Sasha asked, just before they all arrived at the fairy ring.

"You don't wanna know." Grandma Springer said with a frown. "I don't even think they know all the way."

"Great…" Sasha said tiredly, her voice rife with exasperation.

"Hush, child." was the elderly lady's only response, since she was now in the fairy ring. She reached into Levi's orb and yanked off a chunk of his wings, earning an absolutely murderous look from him as she crushed it up into powder between her fingers, then crouched down and sprinkled it on the central fungus tower of the ring, producing a powerful white glow for a moment before the group was transported back to the fairy caves.

Unfortunately, once they were actually there, the locals did not take kindly to seeing their fellow fairies in bubbles. Grandma Springer held out an arm to signal the others to stop behind her as the fairies began to chatter and screech and sing fervently, air crackling and shimmering as they all began to glow various colors.

Grandma Springer simply reached into her pocket and squeezed a small flannel bag, creating an almost blinding brown glow as a massive wolf like spirit of matching color burst forth, bigger than a bull elephant. It had bronze colored fire for fur, and it had six piercing sienna eyes arranged in a horizontal band across its face. Both the teens and the fairies shrank back in horror as it gave a snarl and then a piercing, haunting howl as its body let loose a massive inferno of bronze colored flames that blasted through the whole cave structure. It then calmly sat down and shrank into only a small twinkle, which returned to Grandma Springer's pocket. No fairy was left in a position to fight, either hiding or seemingly in great pain, although they didn't seem truly harmed.

"Hot damn." Jean said lowly to himself. Marco just nodded in agreement.

"…Okay, that was really cool." Sasha said with a small smile on her face.

"Come on!" Grandma Springer said, continuing to nearly jog forward.

"How exactly do you do the thing where spirit things fly out of your pockets?" Sasha asked somewhat breathily, since she was trying to keep up with the unexpectedly fast old woman.

"They a kind of charm bag, really. Usually it's spiritual energy inside, but given what I can do, I put whole spirits in 'em." the wise old woman explained.

"…Can I have one?" Sasha asked.

"A spirit like mine will cost you five thousand dollahs, child." she said with a laugh.

"You've known me forever!" Sasha whined.

"Ten thousand then. I know I couldn't neva trust you with one that strong." the older woman said without an ounce of sympathy.

Sasha just grumbled a bit under her breath as they continued on.

Eventually, they came to an opening in the side of the cave that Jean, Sasha and Marco recognized from before, and crawled inside. They almost though it was the wrong place, for how snug, dark, musty it was; but sure enough, Marco heard something and immediately went over to a massive rock… But try as he might, he couldn't move it.

"Come on, Marco, push!" Jean cried. "You're way stronger than this!"

"He is?" Sasha asked somewhat uneasily, yet curiously.

"I'm trying! Something's wrong!" Marco said, as he continued to try pushing it in vain.

"Must'a had some soulworks done on it." Grandma Springer said disdainfully, as she produced a very luminous wispy spirit for light. "Let me see…" she said, as she took off her sunglasses and the tendrils of her 'eyes' extended several inches outwards, waving in the air for a moment in a somewhat disturbing fashion before retracting. She then reached out her right hand and placed it on the rock, before muttering rapidly under her breath. A bright yellow weasel-like creature suddenly appeared on her shoulder and raced down her arm in an instant, hitting the boulder and then fully merging into it, briefly lighting up an odd network of thin, intricate, intersecting lines all across its surface as it did so. "That should weaken it some. Hit it real good, right 'bout there." she told Marco, pointing to where she had just had her hand on it. Marco complied, raising a fist and concentrating for a moment as it swelled hotly with tight, dense muscle, and his fist bulged and became covered with hard exoskeleton. He then brought it forward with incredible speed and force, and it slammed into the rock like a sledgehammer. The whole cave shook as the rock steadily cracked all over, then totally crumbled to pieces. Jean could see the fairies swearing and grumbling in their orb prisons. Sure enough, Connie and Sunny were in a short tunnel behind the boulder, looking dirty and incredibly surprised.

Connie cleared his throat of dust before speaking. "Grandma?!" Connie cried, hardly able to believe what he was seeing. "Sasha, Jean, Marco?"

"Connie!" Sasha shrieked, so full of delight that she impatiently reached into the tunnel and began tugging Connie out.

"Oh thank God!" Sunny cried joyously, as she and her brother awkwardly clambered out of the tight tunnel. Sunny pulled her grandmother into a tight hug, while Connie just looked utterly confused and too busy being ensnared in a death-grip of a hug by Sasha. However, the fairies were feeling the exact opposite of all this happiness and relief… Especially Levi. The sight of all his plans totally crashing and burning had him absolutely livid. He'd gone through far too much to see everything ruined by an old hag and a few children. Far, far too much.

Levi gave a wretched shriek, still audible even through the bubble, and the whole thing sudden expanded with freezing cold air and then exploded, sending a burst of powdery snow and ice through the small cave. His eyes went pitch black as his smoky, uneven handwriting filled the air. "You will _**suffer.**_" the tiny man wrote, as he dove at Grandma Springer. He gave a shriek so god awful that it made everyone drop to the floor and clutch their ears, which also meant that the old woman dropped her Bible. Levi was on her neck in an instant, shrieking and whistling discordantly as a myriad of various spiritual essences attempted to impede, injure, or ensnare him. This apparently had some kind of dampening or repelling effect on them, as many of them could hardly maintain their forms, and others were forced away from Grandma Springer's body. She was trying to pull Levi off, get him to stop somehow but not even losing an arm and a wing to the claws of a bright green scorpion-spirit slowed him down, he simply regenerated it at incredible speed.

"Grandma!" Sunny cried, starting to get up, but Levi raised an arm towards her, rapidly shouted some wretchedly garbled and raspy sound, and she and the others were blown back against the walls with an incredibly strong and bitterly cold wind. They could only watch in horror as he finally had a chance to administer a savage bite, and ice immediately began to creep through her skin as her struggling slowed…

Something in Connie snapped at that precise moment.

"GET AWAY!" Connie said, as a violent yellow aura suddenly engulfed his whole body. His eyes were wide, and as the others just barely noticed through the yellow aura, glowing scarlet red... and full of tears.

"C-Connie?!" Sasha cried.

"Watch out!" Marco said, as he used his tendrils to pull Jean and Sasha close and protect them from whatever might happen. Levi hardly got a chance to turn around before Connie spoke again.

"I SAID GET AWAY FROM HER, DAMNIT!" Connie screamed, as a blast of yellow aura just big enough for Levi shot forward like a rocket and hit him so hard he was crushed into chunky bits against the opposite wall of the cave. By now, with Grandma Springer so badly injured, the bubbles containing the other fairies were rapidly fading away. However, Connie was having none of it.

Before they could even decide what to do, his aura suddenly pulsed forward like a great rushing wall, at such a ridiculous speed they couldn't help but be splattered against it like bugs on a windshield even before it pressed them against the cave wall… There were a series of small yet ugly squishing and cracking sounds, and three plumes of glowing essence went up just like that. Only Isabel and Levi were left, souls steadily extending tendrils and slowly rebuilding their bodies. Connie's aura steadily waned until it completely disappeared, and he made a couple of clumsy steps towards his grandma before collapsing.

Seeing his chance, Jean quickly went to wrap the souls of Levi and Isabel in his essence before they could completely regenerate. Meanwhile, Sunny rushed to her grandma. Marco followed, while Sasha carefully propped Connie up and started attempting to speak to him.

A menagerie of spirits were all over and around Grandma Springer now, especially where Levi had bitten her. They were steadily melting the ice and working on healing the area, innumerable pinprick sized wisps surrounding the area.

"Will she be okay?!" Sunny asked to whoever would answer. "What's even going on? Why are these all able to touch her?" she said, as she tried to wave the spirits away with her hands.

"She should be fine. She's not fully human, after all…" Marco said.

"Huh?" Sunny said.

"Why else do you see souls and spirits all the time?" Marco asked.

"Oh… that's right, earlier you grabbed me with like this armored tentacle thing…" Sunny said. "So you're…"

"A monster." Marco said simply.

"…Thaaat's why your soul is different from usual." Sunny said.

"A human's is like a gas, ours stays in our chest." Marco explained.

"Oh, that explains a lot…" Sunny said, as Connie started to wake up again.

"Connie?! Connie, how do you feel?!" Sasha asked worriedly.

"I feel like I exploded and someone half-ass glued me back together…" Connie groaned, as he slowly flexed his shoulders and stretched with a rather pained expression. "Is… Is Grandma…"

"She'll be fine." Jean said.

"What's all that glowing shit on her?!" Connie cried.

"Spirits." Jean answered simply.

"Are they hurting her?!" Connie cried, as he attempted to stand, but tried too suddenly and fell again.

"They're healing her. That's her power, partially. All the charms and stuff she's been trying to give you have been real all along. Everything Sunny sees is real." Jean explained.

"….Everything hurts, and nothing makes sense." Connie groaned. But on the bright side, Grandma Springer was beginning to stir again. Although her robe was a bit damp with melted ice and she'd gotten pretty dirty from laying on the cave floor, she otherwise seemed to be in fine condition as the various spirits around her scurried away and melted into the walls or disappeared into her body. She picked up her Bible and cleared her throat with a groggy expression, before Sunny and Marco helped her to stand.

"Let's all go home befo' anything worse happens…" Grandma Springer said, as she made her way to the small cave entrance.

"I know that's right." Connie muttered.

"I got two of the fairies before they could heal… The rest are dead." Jean said, as he briefly opened his right hand to reveal the two wrapped up souls.

"…So four people just got... killed because of us?" Sasha asked out loud, although she wished she hadn't said anything when Connie looked at her in alarm and realization.

"…Well, if you're expecting us to get in trouble, I have good but also awful news." Marco said. "…Legally, fairies are considered either animals or property… And on top of that, they were criminals… No one will care, besides maybe their boss…" Marco said solemnly.

"That's horrible!" Sunny cried. Her grandma just slowly shook her head.

"…It really is..." Connie muttered. "...I-I didn't mean it, it just-"

"That's how it is. Your body reacts by itself. Try not to get too wrapped up in it." Jean interjected.

The mood was quiet and subdued as the group walked back to the portal, especially since the tiny town around them was dead quiet, all the fairies seeming to be incredibly afraid of trying to confront that wolf spirit again.

"_What a strange world…" _they all thought.


	15. Chapter 15

**Ch 15**

**RELENTLESS GAYNESS ABOUNDS**

* * *

><p>Coming back through the portal and returning to Earth was a great relief for everyone involved, although there were still quite a few concerns among them.<p>

"So… I'm basically holding two tiny mostly-dead people in my hand right now." Jean flatly pointed out, not even sure himself how exactly he was supposed to feel about it. "What exactly are we supposed to do about this?"

"I'm sure one of your friends has parents who can deal with them… Just make sure you're real careful on the way over. As for me, I just want them out of my sight and out of the goddamn house… Y'all are lucky I ain't gonna make y'all clean up." Grandma Springer said sternly. Marco looked down at the ground and fidgeted with his fingers when remembering that he /did/ sort of ruin the whole living room when he flapped his wings.

"I- I'll help clean up if you want, ma'am…" Marco started, but Jean immediately pulled him closer to himself.

"Marco, I am holding THE SOULS OF MURDEROUS FAIRIES in my hand right now. Right. Now. We need to take care of this before anything worse happens." Jean protested.

"…Good point." Marco said after a brief pause, before turning back to Grandma Springer. "I'm really sorry, Ms. Springer!" Marco cried, while Jean started to jog off towards Armin's house, figuring they could explain what happened, go to the monster world, and then Eren's parents would know what to do. Marco soon caught up, and Sasha just looked at the two boys with a conflicted expression for a moment before sighing.

"I… I… Connie, do /you/ want to follow them?" Sasha said tiredly. "I could just stay and help clean…"

"I'm still sore as heck from basically going Super Saiyan or whatever I even did, I just wanna go home… and spam Jean with text message questions until he sics his weird boyfriend on me." Connie said, before flexing his neck and shoulders with a slight wince.

"Connie! You know better!" Grandma Springer scolded.

"I'm not saying he's _bad_. Just really really REALLY weird." Connie explained. His grandma simply sighed and nodded slightly, not having the energy to argue further.

"I need coffee and morphine…" she tiredly muttered. "And we all need to have a long talk…"

"I kinda wanna go with th-" Sunny started.

"_No._" both Connie and Grandma Springer firmly interrupted, causing Sunny to pout a little as they all went back into Connie's house.

Meanwhile, on the way to Armin's house, Jean's head was full of questions and concerns. So much so that he actually slowed down somewhat after a couple of minutes. Marco did the same, able to sense the uncertainty within Jean. "What's wrong?" Marco asked.

"…Can I… hold your hand?" Jean asked a bit unsurely, his voice a little unsteady. Without fuss, Marco immediately linked hands with him, and Jean had to admit he did feel a bit safer now, a bit more like things were real. After a moment, with Marco looking at him with expectant concern, Jean continued talking. "…Crazy things have happened to me ever since I met you, but… It's never been like this…" Jean quietly explained.

"I'm sure everything will work out… one way or another." Marco said sweetly. "If we work together, we can do anything! Like the time we accidentally woke up that giant ice elemental bear and-"

"Didn't we just have it run itself through a bunch of my spirit nets until its core gave out and it collapsed in on itself? We were lucky those ice constructs are always so dumb, honestly." Jean said.

"Yeah, but we still beat it! _You _still beat it. Haven't you realized how wonderful you are?" Marco asked, causing Jean to avert his eyes to the ground.

"…Whatever…" Jean muttered dismissively. "Thanks for thinking so, I guess…" Jean continued awkwardly.

"You're welcome… Hey wait, I have a better idea for getting to Armin's house. It'll be fun." Marco said.

"Huh?" Jean said, before Marco just grinned widely.

"Get on my back!" Marco said excitedly.

Just like Marco was hoping, Jean giggled a little and accepted, before getting a firm grip by using his soul like temporary glue.

It was completely necessary, since Marco ended up at an all-out sprint given his enhanced strength. They were there in no time, and Marco began to loudly knock on the door, which was flanked by a pair of moderately sized custom made wood goblin statues… Which looked so astonishingly intricate they could be displayed in a museum, and always remained slightly moist to the touch… They honestly creeped Jean out quite a lot.

Mikasa answered in just a few seconds. Neither boy was surprised, Eren and Mikasa were effectively honorary Arlerts after all.

She looked at Jean on Marco's back and immediately spoke. "If you wanted to play soul jousting, Spirit is asleep right now and-" Mikasa started.

"One, you almost killed me last time" Jean said, while getting off of Marco.

"You're exaggerating." Mikasa flatly responded.

"And two, there's something way more important! Some fairies attacked us and they took Connie and Sunny and we had to go and make them give them back!" Jean cried. "So yeah. Basically, most of them are dead now and I have two of their souls gummed up to keep them from regenerating. And we need you guys to help us. Like, right now." Jean said.

"…Alright. We'll go see Dad." Mikasa said. "He'll know what to do."

They walked through Armin's living room, which had several bookcases and a variety of paintings and small wood-carved statues in various places.

"Those things fricking creep me out. Why doesn't Armin's grandpa just get security cameras?" Jean muttered.

"I think they're nice. Especially Professor Oak." Mikasa said.

"No. He is the worst one. He is a horrible pun, and therefore the worst one." Jean said.

"More like best one." Marco countered. Jean just playfully nudged him in return.

They went upstairs to Armin's room, which was moderately sized and had even more books and a veritable library of video games and DVDS... Armin's goldfish, along with a couple of other species (One of which was not from Earth, but appeared outwardly normal enough to avoid suspicion) were still alive in a 60 gallon aquarium. Armin's blankets were Pokemon patterned, and the walls were an ocean blue. Both Armin and Eren were currently facing Armin's flatscreen TV.

It turned out the reason Armin and Eren didn't come down was because they were currently embroiled in an incredibly intense contest that took all of their skill, concentration, reflexes, and strained all of their capabilities to the absolute max.

In other words, a game of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Which Eren was apparently losing badly.

"HOW DO YOU KEEP WINNING WITH FUCKING JIGGLYPUFF?!" Eren cried, as his Samus fighter got blasted off the screen yet again.

"You can't punk the pink, Eren." Armin said simply. "Oh, hey guys!" Armin said, once he noticed Jean and Marco.

"Some fairies apparently tried to murder Jean and Marco and they have fairy souls with them, so we have to go tell Dad." Mikasa explained shortly, as Jean held up the two fairy souls he had for proof.

"Fuck… Why didn't they just go for Jean?" Eren asked, earning a scowl from Jean and a disapproving look from Marco. "No but really… Did you find out why they were here?" Eren continued.

"Apparently, they're serving some demon or something and they wanted us for… something awful, whatever it was… And they were looking for the half-angel kid, too." Jean explained.

"Really?!" Armin cried.

"Makes about as much sense as anything else. At least you kicked their asses, right?!" Eren responded. "Alright, let's go… This game cheats anyway." Eren said, as he made his way towards Armin's closet.

* * *

><p>After a short trip through the closet, the group of children was back in the swampy wilderness of the monster world, and immediately made their way towards Eren's house.<p>

"Kohaku." Mikasa said, as she took off her scarf and held it out in front of her. Soulthread vibrated and shifted, and there was a distortion in the air as a thick, nine-meter-long, lionfish patterned, serpentine dragon escaped the scarf.

"What the fuck have you been feeding that thing?" Jean asked.

"Spirits work pretty good." Mikasa responded, before climbing on the vast creature's back, followed by the others.

With the dragon, they arrived at Eren's house in only a minute, and Kohaku calmly went back inside of Mikasa's scarf after depositing them in front of the entrance, although directly watching the process always sort of hurt Jean's eyes.

"You're like some kind of Pokemon Trainer." Jean dryly muttered.

"Gotta catch 'em all." Mikasa responded with an equally dry tone, as the group entered and descended the massive tower of bone.

Luckily, Eren's father was home, and he quickly came after Eren loudly called for him.

He was actually a bit smaller than Carla, although still much larger than any human, and he was clearly where Eren got his tentacles from, because rather than legs he simply had a thick mass of them. He was a greyish color, his skin shark-like. He had sharp, wicked claws and equally sharp teeth, with a very robust build.

"Why do you keep bringing humans before I have a chance to disguise…" Grisha muttered.

"I don't even really care at this point." Jean said. Armin just nodded in agreement.

"Sir, we have something very important to tell you! Fairies were looking for a half-angel, and they attacked us-" Marco started.

Grisha seemed to immediately become more stern and serious looking, even though he naturally had such an expression most of the time anyway.

"Fairies?" Grisha growled. "…What sort of coward in any world would send fairies for a task like that? Those feral insects… Can't even do one job without attacking people. It's no wonder they failed." His words made all the teens a bit uncomfortable. "Sorry for interrupting. Please go on."

"…There were six. They kidnapped two of our friends. We got them back, but four of the fairies were killed… And we have two of their souls here, so…"

"Well? Isn't it obvious?" Grisha started.

Eren started to wave his hands about as if he were trying to dissuade his father from speaking any further, but it didn't work.

"Just kill them too. It's their fault for attacking you." Grisha said. A cold shiver ran down everyone's spines.

"W-we didn't /mean/ to kill them, we were hoping you knew what to do with them!" Marco protested. Grisha's facial expression softened a bit.

"Ah… I see. You kids these days sure have gotten gentler. Alright then. I won't kill them. Give them to me, I'll take of this." Grisha said.

Jean suddenly felt very, very apprehensive about handing the two souls over to Grisha, but he wasn't sure what else he could possibly do, so he agreed and handed them over.

"Thank you. Were you going to stay for a while, or was that all?" Grisha asked with absolutely jarring politeness. The kids just kind of stared dumbly at him… Besides Eren, who wasn't really staring at him at all and was instead looking away with a massive bruise-colored blush on his face.

"N-no, we'll be leaving now!" Eren shouted impatiently. "Bye." he forced out, before suddenly grabbing the other teens in his tentacles and quickly swimming back up to the higher levels of their tower despite their considerable combined weight.

Once they'd all left the tower, it was easy to notice that Eren was unusually quiet. So Mikasa spoke for him.

"Sorry our family's a bunch of huge racists." Mikasa said.

"It's okay." Marco responded.

"No it's not!" Eren suddenly spoke up, his voice hot with anger. "It's stupid, and they won't fucking stop!" Eren yelled. "Petra isn't a bad person! You can't just call people insects! After all she does for you, after all you /make/ her do for you, and you still talk about her like this?!"

"Ssshh… I understand, Eren." Armin said, gently hugging him.

"One of these days I'm gonna _make _them stop…" Eren growled, his eyes becoming very dark in color.

"Eren…" Armin said softly. "Don't rush into things, now…"

"Like fuck I'm rushing! They've been doing this shit forever! Dad is like literally 500, he should fucking know better!" Eren snarled.

"Just… don't do anything rash. Wait until you're calm." Armin said.

Eren just mumbled something and hugged Armin back, before the group returned to Earth.

* * *

><p>That night, as Jean and Marco prepared to go to bed after a long, exhausting day, they quickly found that there was a new problem to be had: Sleeping in the same bed, now that their relationship status had changed.<p>

"…You get in first." Marco said, fully undisguised. He was over six and a half feet tall, and quite husky and well fed as opposed to how he was when Jean first met him. But even with an entire backside completely covered in dark green plates of overlapping exoskeletal armor, bifurcated arms of extraordinary strength, and a body capable of all manner of shapeshifting, he was acting very timid. Jean found it rather cute, but he was so exhausted he honestly just wanted to hurry up and figure out their sleeping arrangement.

"You." Jean answered, simply in a loose, light t-shirt and shorts.

"It's your bed." Marco reasoned, continuing to stall.

"You're the big spoon, it's easier if you go first." Jean pointed out.

"But…"

"…It's not like we didn't like each other for at least a little while before we confessed…" Jean said quietly, causing Marco to blush dark green.

"I can't even remember not liking you…" Marco said honestly, but rather shyly. Now it was Jean's turn to blush, and he knew the darkness didn't really hide it at all because Marco had both night vision and a piece of his soul.

"You really want to spend your whole life liking me, of all people?" Jean asked, finding it rather hard to wrap his mind around.

"Why not? You're not perfect, but no one is, so you're definitely my favorite." Marco said, causing Jean's embarrassment to get even worse. Jean tried suddenly pulling Marco into bed to shut him up, but he was so much taller and stronger that it didn't do much good.

"What would you do if I still liked Mikasa?" Jean asked.

"…I'd be really, really sad… Actually, kinda angry, honestly, but… Anything that makes you happy, right?" Marco said with a small smile.

"Well, you make me happy. Really happy… So, if we both make each other happy, then we can still be in bed together, right?" Jean asked, as he decided to take the initiative and get in bed first, leaving a space for Marco.

"…What if… what if I start doing a mating display again…" Marco said with great anxiety.

"You make pretty light and you smell incredible, I don't even see how that's a bad thing." Jean said.

"But Jean…" Marco muttered. "I _really _like you, and I… I'm kinda worried about doing it again…. Just… when I touch you, and smell you, and you're close to me, and I feel all weird and nice inside and it just…"

"Why are you so hung up on it? It's not even gross, I think it's nice." But when Jean felt Marco's embarrassment and anxiety still welling up inside of his own chest, Jean knew there was more to it.

"…The scent is an aphrodisiac."

"…_Oh_…" Everything suddenly made _way_ more sense. Which was really saying something, because Jean found his life usually hardly made sense at all and he was usually just kind of bullshitting his way through as best he could.

"WHAT IF I ACCIDENTALLY MAKE US HAVE SEX?!" Marco shouted. "I HAVEN'T EVEN EXPLAINED… W-WHAT I HAVE… DOWN THERE…"

"So it's definitely not a penis?" Jean asked, seeing no use in beating around the bush due to how tired he was. He wasn't even particularly surprised about the first sentence, he'd already drawn that conclusion.

"It's… Well, it's something…" Marco muttered.

"…Hypothetically, would our baby be in a cocoon?" Jean asked, out of sheer curiosity.

"Yeah…" Marco said. "And… I'd make a nest for it, too… A big, hidden, silk nest… For both of us, all alone…" Marco said with a deepening blush. "And I'd hunt for you, and keep the cocoon clean, and we'd sleep with the baby for warmth, and protect it, and love it, and no one would bother us… Our nest. And if we both stay there all the way until the baby hatches… We become mated for life…" Jean could feel a strange, deep, thrumming sort of pleasure from Marco. He seemed to be almost in a daze, his eyes sparkling a soft yellow before he trailed off and then finally snapped out of it. "Oh wow, wow, okay, I… I did not mean to carry on like that, I'm really sorry!" Marco cried.

"…You sounded awful thrilled about all that." Jean pointed out.

"Not yet, of course! Not for a really, really long time! Not ever, if you don't wanna! I-it's just my instinct, okay?! S-so I kinda maybe wanna be with you forever, what's wrong with that?!" Marco defensively retorted, fidgeting heavily as he did so.

Jean just giggled at the sight of such a large, 'scary' person getting so emotional and nervous. "You're really cute, you know that? …If it's someone like you, I wouldn't really mind forever…" Jean said with a yawn.

"Y-you mean that?" Marco asked. His eyes were bright yellow, and his pupils were wide.

"You know I do." Jean responded sincerely. Marco's immediate response was to pounce into the bed with great excitement and promptly kiss Jean on the cheek… Immediately getting so embarrassed he jumped back out of bed directly afterwards.

"Jean! Jean, I-I'm so sorry, I didn't even warn you or anything!" Marco cried, looking completely horrified with himself.

"…It's fine." Jean softly replied, gently putting a hand to where Marco kissed him. He was definitely much less opposed than six years ago, although he was still quite embarrassed.

After a moment or so, Marco calmed himself and steadily climbed into bed once again; this time wrapping Jean in a warm, cuddly hug as usual, as if Jean were a large stuffed animal. Jean was suddenly bombarded with a rush of warm, snuggly, giddy feelings, even though this had happened a million times before. Somehow, it was almost like a dream.

"_My boyfriend…"_ Jean thought, as he turned over to hug Marco back, nuzzling against him a little closer. A smile and a contented little sigh escaped him as he did so. Marco's combination of strange arms and tendrils wrapped snugly around Jean would look like a nightmarish deathtrap to some, but for him, it simply made him feel safe and protected. Undeniably cared about… He felt valuable, important, even treasured in Marco's grasp. After six years, he could honestly say that it didn't bother him at all what Marco looked like, what Marco was, or what Marco could potentially do. He was Marco, and that was all that mattered.

He couldn't help but giggle a little, running the word through his head one more time.

"_Boyfriend…"_

In fact, he was so worked up he actually didn't feel very tired at all anymore.

"Marco. Marco, talk with me." Jean said quietly. "I'm not tired yet. Neither are you."

"You'll feel like crap in the morning." Marco told him.

"I can live with that." Jean said. "Please? I like your voice."

"…You do?" Marco asked. "Isn't it too…"

"Marco, there's nothing ugly or scary about your voice getting deeper. Because it's _your voice. _Jean said.

"I dunno…" Marco said, before Jean started to experimentally stroke the base of one of his tendril claws. There were millions of microscopic hairs and very sensitive nerve endings there, and at each thin divide between the segments of the tendril's exoskeleton. This allowed the tendrils a very keen sense of touch, and even taste.

Marco shivered and blushed a bit as Jean lightly ran his fingertip over it and then gently massaged it between his index finger and thumb.

"Jean! Jean, stop that, that's sensitive! You're gonna- you're gonna…" Jean ran a finger down the tendril slowly and gently, then held it close to his mouth and blew a modest, teasing gust of air over the tendril's tip while delicately running the fingers of his other hand over each segment divide. "Oh my _goooddd~" _Marco literally purred, his grip on Jean slackening considerably. "You are just _perfect~_" Marco said with vacant pleasure, his eyes an incredibly bright yellow.

One again, there was a burst of beautiful mint green motes of light and a wonderful aroma. But after a few minutes, both boys were extremely embarrassed.

Especially because with the exposure being longer than it was before, Jean was realizing the 'hard' way that Marco was absolutely right about the scent's purpose, and now his cheeks were burning furiously and he had an incredibly embarrassing erection to awkwardly hide… Although he knew Marco technically knew about it anyway. The emotions would be far too much to not be transferred through their bond.

"I-I'm sorry!" Jean stuttered, as Marco fully snapped out of it and managed to steadily bring his body back under control. "But you're really cute when you get worked up like that…" Jean said.

"How am I cute…" Marco muttered.

"Because you are." Jean said.

The slightly awkward talking and cuddling continued for a while longer, until both boys steadily fell asleep.

* * *

><p>For the next two weeks, Jean's emotions were all over the place. On one hand: His best friend was now his boyfriend… and that alone made his brain feel like it was getting spun around in a cotton candy machine, in the best possible way.<p>

On the other hand, there were still those fairies to think about from time to time… And now Connie and Sasha knew about what was most likely the world's biggest secret. Connie's grandmother didn't exactly seem thrilled with the idea, but nonetheless, she'd started to teach Sunny more about the true nature of the world, and the story behind her eyes. And as expected from a young teenage boy, Connie was incredibly more eager to learn about the power he'd gained from making a Wish… Which he never hesitated to bug Jean about.

"So, like, what are the secrets and stuff?!" Connie asked one day, as he sat in Jean's room with he, Sasha, and Marco.

"…I dunno? Like, you just kind of think about something really hard and it happens, I guess? Focus and shit? It's not rocket science… Like literally, it's not really science at all, no scientist knows about this…" Jean said.

"If it's that simple, how come we can't blow stuff up and shoot fire and stuff?" Connie asked.

"I've already told you. The power has to do with what you wished for…" Jean said, idly forming a stretchy gumball-sized sphere of aura and popping it into his mouth. "Mine is sticky and stretchy because I wanted to protect Marco from being hurt…" Jean demonstrated by blowing a very large, slightly glowing bubble. "You screamed 'Get away', when your grandma was hurt, and then your aura blasted those fairies…" Jean said. "So yours is probably about pushing things, and keeping them away." Jean continued. "If you want to know more, you should probably ask Mikasa… she's way better at all this stuff than I am…" Jean begrudgingly admitted.

"Aw, don't feel bad, Jean! Mikasa's just better than everyone at everything! …Except drawing, singing, and lying." Sasha said.

"Alright… but what about the whole thing with going through the closet? Grandma is being really strict about that for some reason…"

"Because it's literally full of giant bugs and dragons and demons and shit." Jean said.

"Like Reiner." Marco offhandedly mentioned.

"…_What."_ both Connie and Sasha said flatly.

"Reiner's not exactly a terrible person, but he is a literal demon, and on top of that he has six biological fathers and no mother. Does that give you an idea of what kind of bullshit you're dealing with if you go over there?" Jean said with an absolutely serious expression.

"Pfft, Jean, stop joking!" Connie said.

"Remember that time in elementary when the teacher forced him to say the pledge and he looked like someone stabbed him when he said 'Under God'?" Jean said.

"He was just joking around! I've heard him say God all the time!" Connie argued.

"He's probably talking about a different one… they're all real. Even ones you've never heard of." Jean explained. "It's the Abrahamic one that gives him trouble."

"If God is real…" Connie started. "If they're ALL real… How is that even possible? Doesn't it like, contradict or something? Why aren't they all trying to kill each other or something?"

"…Because they already tried." Marco said. "And sometimes, actually did…" Marco continued. "Connie, /why/ do you think we keep ourselves a secret and live in a separate world?"

Connie opened his mouth to respond, but then closed it again. He looked to Sasha with an utterly lost expression, but she just shrugged.

"Because all humans are really powerful, whether they know it or not. Even before they make Wishes. When you imagine things, especially when you all imagine the /same/ thing, over and over again, for a long time, they tend to actually become true… That's how the first monsters were made. And then we fed on your beliefs, fed on your power, fed on your souls, and got stronger and stronger… That's how gods were made." Marco explained. "But souls are really, really strong. Human souls are uh… kinda like smoke balls that never stop making smoke. You all produce auras constantly. That's the energy of your soul, leaving your body. But once it leaves, it doesn't just do nothing… combined with the energy from everyone else, it can influence the entire world. That's how spirits like the ones your grandma controls are made… When loose energy meets up and sticks together. …But that's kinda… confusing in English, so I guess… uh, apparitions, if you still want to use ghost and spirit to mean the same thing. Souls are immortal, and can't be permanently destroyed. Even when someone dies and passes on, their soul repairs itself in the afterlife and eventually reincarnates. Gods… usually don't tend to do so well with godhood."

"They all go fucking nuts, basically." Jean said much more bluntly. "Kinda why so many gods from other religions tend to be assholes or have weird morals."

"Right! Anyway, that went horribly… They almost destroyed the world a few times. So that's why eventually, a bunch of us got together and made our own world, Taerh… The gods were subdued for a while, and they rerouted most of humanity's excess passive energy. Now it mostly goes towards maintaining Taerh, instead of all just mashing together randomly or getting absorbed by monsters. They couldn't get it all though, or else Taerh would get extremely unstable… So that's why there are still spirits and rare supernatural things on Earth. But at least this way, no new gods form." Marco finished.

"Fucking incredible." Connie said.

"Yup." Marco responded.

For the rest of the visit, there were a lot of things to talk about…

* * *

><p><strong>Was supposed to be somewhat longer, but I delayed this one enough as it is.<strong>


End file.
